Delia Smith’s roasted tomato salad is skinned tomato halves roasted cut-side up with garlic, olive oil and basil at 200°C (Gas 6) for 50–60 minutes. It serves 4 to 6 as a starter at just 150 calories per portion.
The recipe comes from Delia’s Summer Collection (1993), and her headnote is about as passionate as Delia gets. She says if you think bread dipped into olive oil and tomato juices is the food of the gods, then roasting the tomatoes first means the gods have excelled themselves.
Cutting the tomatoes around the middle rather than vertically is the detail worth noting. A horizontal cut exposes the seed chambers evenly, so each half sits flat in the tin and roasts without tipping. Vertical halves wobble and lose their juices over the edge.
Delia Smith Roasted Tomato Salad
Course: SaladsCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy6
servings15
minutes1
hour150
kcal1
hour15
minutesSlow-roasted skinned tomatoes dressed with balsamic vinegar and topped with black olives from Delia’s Summer Collection (1993). A make-ahead starter that can sit for hours before serving.
Ingredients
- For the tomatoes:
12 large tomatoes
2 large or 4 small cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
12 large fresh basil leaves
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
- For the dressing:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- To garnish:
Fresh basil leaves
24 black olives
- Equipment
A shallow roasting tin 40 × 30cm (16 × 12 inches), oiled.
Directions
- Preheat: Set the oven to Gas 6, 200°C (400°F).
- Skin the tomatoes: Pour boiling water over the tomatoes and leave for 1 minute. Drain and, as soon as they are cool enough to handle, slip off the skins. Protect your hands with a cloth if necessary.
- Arrange in the tin: Cut each tomato in half around the middle rather than vertically. Place the halves in the roasting tin cut side uppermost and season with salt and freshly milled pepper. Sprinkle on the chopped garlic, distributing it evenly between the tomatoes.
- Add oil and basil: Follow with a few droplets of olive oil on each one. Top each with half a basil leaf, turning each piece over to get a coating of oil.
- Roast: Place the roasting tin in the top half of the oven and roast for 50–60 minutes or until the edges are slightly blackened. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. All this can be done several hours ahead.
- Dress and serve: Transfer the tomatoes to individual serving plates. Whisk the oil and balsamic vinegar together and drizzle over the tomatoes. Top each one with an olive and garnish with basil leaves. Serve with lots of crusty bread.
FAQs
Why does Delia skin the tomatoes before roasting?
The skin toughens and curls in a hot oven, pulling away from the flesh in papery strips that stick to your teeth. Removing it before roasting gives you a soft, yielding texture all the way through. The flesh absorbs the garlic oil and basil flavour more evenly without the skin acting as a barrier.
The boiling water method takes 1 minute. Delia says to drain them and slip the skins off as soon as they’re cool enough to handle. If you leave them in the water too long, the outer layer of flesh starts to cook and goes mushy. Work quickly and the tomatoes stay firm.
What type of tomatoes work best?
Delia says “large tomatoes” without naming a variety, but vine-ripened or beef tomatoes give the best results. They hold their shape during an hour of roasting and have enough flesh to stay juicy. Small tomatoes collapse too quickly and dry out.
Flavour matters more than variety here because the roasting concentrates whatever taste the tomato already has. A bland supermarket tomato stays bland even after an hour in the oven. Buy the ripest, most fragrant tomatoes you can find, ideally ones that smell strongly at the stem end.
Can I use this as a side dish instead of a starter?
It works both ways. As a starter, Delia serves it on individual plates with crusty bread for dipping into the juices. As a side, pile all the tomato halves onto a large platter and let people help themselves alongside grilled chicken or fish.
The roasted tomatoes also work on bruschetta or stirred through pasta. If you’re serving them with a main course, they pair well with anything Mediterranean. For a complete Delia summer menu, start with these tomatoes and follow with her strawberry cheesecake ice cream for dessert.
How far ahead can I make this?
Delia says the roasting can be done several hours ahead, which makes this perfect for dinner parties. Roast the tomatoes in the morning, leave them in the tin at room temperature and dress them just before serving. The dressing goes on at the last minute so the vinegar stays sharp.
The roasted tomatoes keep overnight in the fridge, covered. Bring them back to room temperature for 30 minutes before dressing, because cold tomatoes taste muted. If you enjoy make-ahead summer dishes, Delia’s peaches baked in Marsala follows the same cook-ahead-and-chill philosophy.
Why roast at such a high temperature?
Gas 6 (200°C) is hot enough to caramelise the tomato edges without drying out the centres. Delia says to roast until the edges are “slightly blackened,” which sounds aggressive but those charred spots add a smoky sweetness you can’t get at a lower temperature.
A lower oven would dry the tomatoes more evenly, pushing them toward sun-dried territory. That’s a different dish entirely. The high heat keeps the centres soft and juicy while the exposed edges char, so you get two textures in every bite.
Do I need to use balsamic vinegar for the dressing?
Balsamic gives the dressing its dark colour and sweet-sharp balance. A good aged balsamic has a syrupy depth that complements roasted tomatoes better than a sharper vinegar like red wine or sherry.
You don’t need an expensive aged balsamic for this. A decent supermarket bottle works well because the tomatoes and olive oil carry most of the flavour. If you substitute red wine vinegar, add a pinch of sugar to compensate for the missing sweetness.
