Oven Dried Tomatoes

12 medium Roma tomatoes (2 pounds)
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus additional as needed
1 teaspoon minced thyme leaves
6 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Brown sugar


Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. In a pot of boiling water, blanch tomatoes. Drain and refresh in ice water. Drain, peel, core, cut into quarters and remove seeds. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and arrange the tomato quarters on the tray, cut side down. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive oil. Sprinkle with thyme and garlic. In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and sugar and sprinkle over the tomatoes. Bake until tomatoes begin to shrivel, about 1 hour. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, place into a container. Pour remaining 1/2 cup of olive oil over and cover the container, and refrigerate.