Low Heat Does the Heavy Lifting
The premise is embarrassingly simple: halved tomatoes, olive oil, a low oven, and patience. That's it. What emerges two hours later — collapsed, deeply sweet, a little jammy at the edges — is categorically different from the raw fruit you slid in. The water has left, the sugars have concentrated, and the acidity has softened into something almost winy. You haven't really cooked so much as waited.
This is the move for a Saturday morning when you have a counter full of tomatoes threatening to turn. Any variety works — plum tomatoes hold their shape best, but ripe beefsteaks, mixed cherry tomatoes, even slightly soft ones that you wouldn't happily slice raw are all fair game. The oven covers a multitude.
You’ll need
- 600g ripe tomatoes, any size or mix
- 3–4 tbsp good olive oil, plus more for the toast
- 3–4 garlic cloves, unpeeled, lightly crushed
- 4 sprigs of fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried)
- Flaky sea salt and black pepper
- Pinch of sugar (optional — only if the tomatoes need it)
- 4 thick slices of good bread — sourdough, or a sturdy white
The method
- Heat the oven to 150 °C (130 °C fan / Gas 2). Halve the tomatoes through the equator and arrange them cut-side up in a snug roasting dish or on a rimmed baking tray.
- Tuck the garlic cloves and thyme sprigs among them. Drizzle generously with olive oil, season well with salt and pepper, and add a small pinch of sugar if the tomatoes smell more sharp than sweet.
- Roast for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours, until the tomatoes are very soft, wrinkled, and beginning to caramelise at the edges. The oil in the pan will be vivid orange-red and deeply fragrant. Don't rush this.
- When the tomatoes are nearly done, toast your bread until properly golden — pale toast is a missed opportunity here. Rub lightly with olive oil while it's still warm.
- Pile the tomatoes onto the toast, spoon the pan juices over freely, and eat immediately.
If you're swimming in summer fruit, what to do with a glut of tomatoes covers eight more ways through the pile — including a freezer method worth knowing.
