Slow-Roasted Tomatoes With Olive Oil and Lime
Updated Sept. 23, 2020

- Total Time
- About 2½ hours, plus cooling
- Rating
- Comments
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Ingredients
- Ice cubes, as needed
- 4medium, ripe but firm round tomatoes
- 2tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2limes
- ¼teaspoon pure lemon or lime oil or extract (see Tip), optional
- ½cup extra-virgin olive oil, preferably mild and fruity
- Maldon or other flaky sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
- Step 1
Center a rack in the oven and heat to 200 degrees. Have a nonreactive baking pan at hand that can hold the tomatoes comfortably, such as a 9-inch, deep-dish pie plate.
- Step 2
Put a large saucepan of water to boil and fill a large bowl with cold water and ice cubes. Cut a shallow X in the bottom of each tomato, and one by one, drop them into the boiling water. Count 15 to 20 seconds, then transfer the tomatoes to the bowl of ice water. Peel each tomato. Using a small knife, remove each tomato’s core, creating a V-shaped hollow an inch or so deep. Arrange the tomatoes in the pan.
- Step 3
Put the sugar in a small bowl, then finely grate the zest from both limes over it. Rub the ingredients together between your fingertips until the sugar is moist and aromatic and maybe colored. Spoon an equal amount of sugar into each tomato.
- Step 4
If you’re using lemon or lime oil or extract, stir it into the olive oil. Spoon the olive oil over the tomatoes, allowing just a few drops to fall into the tomatoes’ hollows.
- Step 5
Bake for 2 to 3 hours, basting a couple of times each hour, until the tomatoes are soft all the way through but still hold their shape. (You can poke them with a bamboo skewer or the tip of a thin knife to test.) Remove the dish from the oven, and season the tomatoes with salt and pepper.
- Step 6
These are best served at room temperature, but can also be enjoyed warm or even chilled. Spoon a little oil from the baking dish over each tomato just before serving. These are at their peak the day they are made, but they’ll hold for a day in the refrigerator. If you’ve refrigerated the tomatoes, it’s best to serve them either chilled or at room temperature.
- Not to be confused with inedible essential oils used for aromatherapy purposes, pure lemon or lime oils or extracts used for culinary purposes are typically available in most supermarkets near other baking ingredients.
Private Notes
Comments
I made this recipe this afternoon, following it to the letter, using baseball size Sungold and heirloom German red tomatoes. It is time consuming but they come out of the oven looking like jewels and tasting of savory summer tomato bliss! A little dollop of sour cream added to the lushness. A great teleworking from the kitchen adventure and a definite keeper of a recipe.
When it says to remove the core, does that mean all the juice and seeds as well or just the little top part where it was connected to the vine?
Good Morning: Please clarify "medium" tomatoes. How many inches wide? Thank you.
Too sweet for us. Lime, sugar and herbs didn’t mix well. I wanted to like this but dumped them.
Beautiful dish. Made three times, always impresses and surprises the guests. Preparation is really a joy especially making the lime sugar. Amazing colour and aroma.
I made these to compliment a salmon dish. I had lovely tomatoes and did not peel them. With the slow roast, they came out perfectly and the peel was not at all tough - plus it kept the perfect shape of the tomatoes. It was easy to fill in a small core at top with the lime/sugar mix. I imagine that this would work well with a whiff of balsamic vinegar for a different flavouring too - I'm going to try that next time for variety. But this makes a beautiful and easy vegetable for dinner.