Sun-dried vegetables are available year round in jars, but we all know veggies from our own gardens make the best dishes ever. Our gardens may be put to bed for the season, but read on for a little tip to get that "sun-dried" flavor from grocery store veggies.
 

Drying tomatoes in the sun was one of the many inventive ways the Italians devised to ensure themselves of a supply of the vital vegetable all year round. 

Since then sun-dried tomatoes have become as prized for their characteristic meaty flavor and texture as for their keeping qualities. Only relatively recently did the rest of the world wake up to their potential, much to the surprise of the Italians, who had been using them for centuries.

The vegetables are cut into slices, sprinkled with salt and then laid out on trays in the sun like tomatoes. If you want, you can get a roughly similar effect at home by putting the vegetable slices on trays in a very low oven for several hours.