Well? Are you supposed to use them as-is? Soak them in water to reconstitute (which is what I’ve done in the past, but I’ve always wondered)? Throw them in boiling water? Or something else that I haven’t thought of?
Put 'em, unreconstituted, in spaghetti sauce or stews: they’ll soak up some of the liquid, thickening it and 'll taste yummy.
Fenris
[sub]If you give a moose a muffin,…[/sub]
Bow-tie pasta. Chicken. Onions.spinach.garlic.pine nuts.chicken broth.
Would you like the whole recipe?
[sub]If you give a moose a muffin…[/sub]
Bow tie pasta. Chicken. Spinach. Parmesan cheese. Onions. Garlic. Basil.
Want the whole recipe?
Ooh. Sounds good – everything but the chicken, but I can’t take that out myself.
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Man, if I had time, I’d make myself some pesto.
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My reading of Fenris’s reply is that you use them as-is if you’re going to be cooking them anyway. But what if I wanted to put them on salad?
Why, throw them out!
God, those things are nasty. Brrrr.
Ignore the Lagomorph
Best (but least healthy) way to eat 'em: Heat up a little olive oil and a garlic clove (don’t fry the garlic, you just wanna get the oil warm. Pour over the sun-dried tomatos and let rehydrate in the oil.
A quicker way is to pour boiling water over them and let 'em reconstitute a bit that way.
Fenris
Chop them up with walnuts and toss them with mixed salad greens, gorgonzola cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. Delicious.
OK, I admit that was hasty on my part.
You should add them to your compost heap. Throwing them out is a waste of good organic matter. I suppose earthworms will eat them!
Lagomorph, are you my sister? Hmm…checking location…nope, she doesn’t live in Boston, but she also thinks sun-dried tomatoes are foul. Yup, I am the smart one in the family :p.
All the goodness of tomatoes, in concentrated form…what’s not to like? I don’t suppose it’ll help to mention how good sun-dried grapes are, yes?
I like to reconstitute them in the microwave using veggie broth; I’ve also done so with a small amount of dried chipotle pepper for zing. Here are a couple ways I’ve used them:
Warm some olive oil and garlic, add the tomatoes, black or calamata olives, fresh parsley, and toss with cookied pasta. Top with feta or fine grade parmesan or romano cheese (not the dried up grated stuff in a can).
Make a nice onion and mushroom risotto (following the recipe available on most boxes of arborio rice). Most will have you keep a pot of broth warming so you can add warm broth at intervals – I place the sundried tomatoes in the broth while I heat it (add a little extra or water to make up for what they’ll absorb. Then, add to the risotto near the end of the cooking time.
I also have several recipes for sundried tomato pesto which involves reconstituting and pureeing in a food processor with fresh herbs, olive oil, and garlic, but I haven’t tried any of those yet.
the best way to reconstitute them if you have the time is soak in room temp water. hot or boiling water tends to take some of that intense tomato flavor out.
then again, what tempurature is room temp water?
So I’ve been doing it right all along, eh? Cool. Ya know, now I’m curious to try them in their dry state. Must be chewy.
Cook some spiral pasta – tri-colour is fun – and put it into a large bowl to cool a little.
Chop some red, yellow, and green bell peppers and add them to the pasta.
Toss in a jar of sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil.
Add mayonaise to taste, mixing well.
Chill and enjoy! 
Oh yeah – You can add some chicken to that if you want to.
Wild I was just thinking about this…
I usually buy marinated sun-dried tomatos from the salad bar at the supermarket to have in sandwiches. Can I make this myself? Do I just toss the dried tomatoes into a bottle of olivoil and throw in some basil and garlic? How long would this concoction stay good?
Also how to make the lovely marinated garlics in oliveoil and tazmanian honey? 
I heard you have to boil the garlic first?
Unfortunatly I don’t think that making my own marinated baby artichoke hearts would be cheaper…
since there really isn’t any moisture in olive oil, the tomatoes do need to be reconstituted first. Yes you can make this yourself, but be aware that raw garlic in olive oil non-refridgerated can actually breed botulism.
In a bowl, mix a half-cup each of: chopped sun-dried tomatoes, chopped pecans, pesto, and chopped green onions. Take a small baking dish and line it with about a pound of Brie with the rind cut off. Cover Brie with mixture and bake for 20 minutes or so at 350. Spread this goop on crusty bread.
This is very bad for you.