Skip to main content

Sweet caramelized tomatoes without sugar

Tomatoes are naturally sweet, and if they have a little acidity you just need to cook them for the right amount of time to take that away.

This is something my father used to make often, in summer, when the tomatoes were a little too red to be used in salad, but not as mushy yet to be made into a sauce. Cut the tomatoes in two halves. In a frying pan place some olive oil and then a clove or two of garlic. When the oil is hot add the tomatoes, cut side down. Add salt and dried oregano. Slowly fry the tomatoes (about 10 minutes) until they start to brown. During this time do not turn them over, but move them delicately around the pan so that they won't stick. Do not add water. Then turn them and cook them on the other side for a few more minutes, until they start to break. Now they are ready and caramelized and you won't believe the taste!!! In fact I suggest that you clean the pan with a slice of bread!!!


Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Labels:

Comments

  1. bónakovácsAugust 11, 2010 at 11:54 AM

    This is something you taught me during our stay in NZ and I have been diligently practicing it ever since. Indeed simple and lovely! Ciao, Bence

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rosa's Yummy YumsAugust 11, 2010 at 8:05 PM

    That is a delicious dish! Mmmhhh, caramelöized tomatoes are wonderful.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    ReplyDelete
  3. SarahAugust 11, 2010 at 8:10 PM

    This looks absolutely delicious! I will have to try it the next time I have tomatoes in the house.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JoAugust 11, 2010 at 8:28 PM

    I agree, it works!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jayanthy KumaranAugust 11, 2010 at 11:14 PM

    YOur caramalized tomatoes look perfect...keep on rocking...!

    ReplyDelete
  6. KaterinaAugust 12, 2010 at 3:52 AM

    I love those tomatoes. They are very appetizing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. PamAugust 12, 2010 at 6:21 AM

    Delicious looking for sure! Way to go! Bread is a necessity to clean the pan!

    ReplyDelete
  8. AlessandraAugust 12, 2010 at 6:51 AM

    Yes Pam, good Italian bread, possibly :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. RachanaAugust 13, 2010 at 1:01 AM

    Caramelised tomatoes are lovely! Yumm!

    ReplyDelete
  10. ArantxaAugust 16, 2010 at 6:11 AM

    Yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Shanthi KrishnakumarSeptember 9, 2010 at 5:22 AM

    Looks lovely like grabbing from the plate
    http://shanthisthaligai.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to make Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum), and Sweet New Zealand

Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum) Before I start I would like to say that I don't have a sugar thermometer, essential if you are really into confectionery, and that I didn't use much sugar for these Turkish delights. Many recipes use much more sugar, and it is not that I wanted to make a low sugar treat here (it is still pretty sweet), it is just that making it at home really makes me realize how much sugar there is already in my diet, and if I can have something with a little less... well, why not! This method is 'home friendly' i.e. these can be made at home with very little effort and equipment, and the recipe comes from my book  Sweet As...  where I also have the recipe for lavender and orange blossom Turkish Delights. Ingredients 1 l water 300 g sugar 2 tbsp lemon juice 100 g cornflour 1 tbsp frozen raspberries 1 tbsp rose water icing sugar (very little) and cornflour (lots) to dust. In a pot put hal...
9 comments
Read more

Silver beet Paneer, a variation of Palak Paneer

The other day I showed you my curry made with borage , ‘invented’ because I have tons of it in the garden! The other green-leaf crop that does well in Auckland is silver beet. My old plants (from last year!) got so tall that I started collecting only the little leaves from the stalks, and they look like spinach. One of my favourite Indian dishes is Palak Paneer (or Panir), spinach with panir cottage cheese, and this variation is made using my silver beet. I washed (many times!) the small silver beet leaves, and then I steamed them and drain them. In a heavy pot I heated 2 tbsp of vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil) and sautéed for 30 seconds: 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp turmeric 1/3 tsp ground chili then I added 2 roughly chopped shallots and, after 3 minutes, a good pinch of salt and the cooked silver beet. I cooked everything on low for about 20 minutes (you may need to add just a little water if the silver beet is too dry) and then finely pureed the content ...
5 comments
Read more

Home Made Marzipan Sweets

This is another recipe from my book Sweet As , and something that I love to make for Xmas. I would like to say that for marzipan you should get the best almonds around, natural, but here in New Zealand the almonds taste different from the ones in Italy. They are imported, not sure where from most of the time, but they are not top grade almonds. Still, with a few tips, you can make your marzipan taste great even with 'regular' almonds! Buy them natural, not blanched, you need to blanche then yourself or the result will be too dry. To blanch them you need to put them in boiling water for a couple of minutes, and then add cold water and take the skin off, one by one. For this recipe you will need: 200 g almonds 100 g icing sugar 5 apricot kernels. As I was saying before, the almond here have little taste, so I like to collect the stones from apricot and get the almonds out. They are a real pain to crack! In the photo above you can see apricot stones and kernels. The apricot kernel...
13 comments
Read more