Nigella Lawson's simple cooking hack for sweetening leftover tomatoes overnight
Nigella Lawson has been praised for sharing a cooking hack to make tomatoes deliciously sweet.
We’re slap bang in the middle of tomato season, which runs from June to October, and with many of us taking to growing our own in lockdown, ideal weather conditions have meant we’ve been left with an excess of the humble fruit.
Thankfully, Lawson has revealed a clever trick to help make use of the additional toms – and the really brilliant bit is it involves no time spent standing over a hot stove. Although you will need an oven.
Heading to her Instagram, the food writer shared her recipe for what she calls ‘Moonblush Tomatoes’ (we were sold at the name).
“Excess Tomato Alert*: #RecipeOfTheDay is Moonblush Tomatoes; you put them in a hot oven, turn it off, and let them sweeten and intensify in the residual heat overnight. *Not that you need a glut of tomatoes to make these, but it’s a particularly helpful recipe if you have,” she wrote alongside an image of the resultant tomatoes.
Read more: Nigella Lawson just won the 'when I was 20' lockdown challenge
Lawson guided fans to the full recipe on her website, which she describes as her “homespun version” of Sunblush Tomatoes.
She suggests halving cherry tomatoes, before sprinkling with herbs, a little salt, a pinch of sugar and a drizzle of oil.
The tomatoes are then put in a hot oven, which Lawson turns off straight away, allowing the residual heat to gently warm through the fruit overnight, hence “moonblush”.
She advises the resultant toms can be tossed into salads or work as an accompaniment for cheese. Additionally the sweet tomatoes would work as a sauce for pasta.
“Or however you wish,” she adds.
Read more: Nigella Lawson reveals she never follows recipes to the letter due to 'performance anxiety'
Unsurprisingly the simple hack went down well with Lawson’s fans, some of whom offered alternative suggestions for using the overnight tomatoes.
“This is one of my all time favourite recipes from @nigellalawson, simple yet packs a punch!” one fan wrote.
“Versatile as used in so many different recipes - try it today.”
“Why are Nigella’s recipes always so amazing and simple?” another wrote.
This isn’t the first life hack Nigella has shared recently. Turns out as well as upping our kitchen game, she’s also got some handy hints to overhaul our beauty regime.
The celebrity chef revealed we may have been using dry shampoo wrong this entire time.
Instead of spritzing it onto our heads when our hair is in need of a wash, Lawson admitted she uses dry shampoo on her roots before bed for perfect morning hair.
In a column for The Sunday Times’ Style, she explained that the step means that “grime and grease” will disappear overnight while you sleep.
“Don’t spray on dry shampoo in the morning and then beat yourself about the head with your hairbrush trying to get it all out,” she wrote.
“Blast yourself with it before you go to bed and when you wake up in the morning it will have disappeared, taking the grime and grease with it.”
Genius!
