Tomato Sauce Leather
Tomato sauce leather is my secret ingrediente italiano per deliziosi pasti. I use it to make Italian-style backpacking meals such as Unstuffed Peppers, Seafood Raminara, Spinach & Bean Raminara, and Macaroni with Cheesy Tomato Sauce. How to Make Tomato Sauce Leather Start with your grandma’s homemade tomato sauce recipe or buy a jar of Marinara Sauce. My favorite brand is Barilla® Spicy Marina. Run the tomato sauce through a blender to a smoothie-like consistency. Blending any chunks of tomatoes or other vegetables in the sauce thickens the sauce so it will make better leather. You will add back more dehydrated vegetables to these recipes later. Spread the sauce thinly on dehydrator trays covered with non-stick Paraflexx® sheets or use the fruit-roll sheets that came with your dehydrator. I pour about eight fluid ounces (about half of a 24 oz. jar) onto each Excalibur Dehydrator tray and spread uniformly to the edges. Dehydrate at 135° for six to eight hours or you may dry at 125° for eight to ten hours with equally good results. After about four or five hours, the sauce will be solidified enough for you to peel it off the trays and flip it over for the duration on the drying time. If you start the drying process before going to bed or before going to work, the leather will turn out fine if you don’t flip it. It just may take an extra hour of drying. The finished product will be leathery and dry to the touch, not sticky. Allow the leather to cool, and then tear it into pieces. To extend shelf-life, store the leather in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it or pack for a backpacking trip. I have packed sauce leather in mail drops for month-long hikes and it retained its full flavor and quality. When combined with an equal part of hot water, the leather will turn back into tomato sauce. Recipes with Tomato Sauce Leather: Learn more about how to dehydrate food for these recipes - dehydrating brown rice, dehydrating meat and seafood, dehydrating vegetables. Unstuffed Peppers (one of my favorites) Ingredients:
At Home: Pack parmesan cheese and tomato sauce leather separately in small plastic bags. Enclose in a larger plastic bag with rice, ground beef, and peppers. On the Trail: Combine all ingredients except parmesan cheese in pot with water and soak for five minutes. Light stove, bring to a boil, and continue cooking with the lid on for another minute or two. Remove pot from stove and wait ten minutes. Insulate pot if possible. Stir in parmesan cheese before serving. Seafood Raminara Ingredients:
At Home: Break noodles into small pieces. Pack parmesan cheese and tomato sauce leather separately in small plastic bags. Enclose in a larger plastic bag with noodles, seafood, and vegetables. On the Trail: Combine all ingredients except parmesan cheese with water in pot and soak for five minutes. Light stove, bring to a boil, and continue cooking with the lid on for another minute or two. Remove pot from stove and wait ten minutes. Insulate pot if possible. Stir in parmesan cheese before serving. Spinach & Bean Raminara Ingredients:
At Home: Cook beans from scratch or use canned beans. There is no need to cook canned beans before dehydrating. Simply drain and dehydrate at 125° for approximately six hours. Beans will split open when dried and will fall apart easily. You can use a single type of bean, such as white beans, or you can mix several different kinds together. Dehydrate spinach at 125° for approximately four hours until dry and crumbly. Spinach leaves can start flying around inside your dehydrator when they are almost dry. I cover mine with one of the mesh sheets from Excalibur Dehydrators. Break noodles into small pieces. Pack parmesan cheese and tomato sauce leather separately in small plastic bags. Enclose in a larger plastic bag with noodles, spinach, and beans. On the Trail: Combine all ingredients except parmesan cheese with water in pot and soak for five minutes. Light stove, bring to a boil, and continue cooking with the lid on for another minute or two. Remove pot from stove and wait ten minutes. Insulate pot if possible. Stir in parmesan cheese before serving. Macaroni with Cheesy Tomato Sauce Ingredients:
At Home: Combine cheese powder (from the mac & cheese box) and instant dry milk in a small plastic bag. Pack tomato sauce leather in another small plastic bag. Enclose the smaller bags in a larger bag with macaroni, ground beef, and vegetables. On the Trail: Add all ingredients except the cheese/milk powders to your pot with 1½ cups water and soak for five minutes. Light stove, bring to a boil, and continue cooking for two minutes. Quickly stir in cheese/milk powder, put the lid back on, and place pot into insulating cozy. Wait ten minutes for the meal to continue rehydrating and cooking. Buon Appetito! I hope you enjoy these Tomato Sauce Leather Recipes. View more dehydrating food pages. |
