Roasted Tomato Sauce

One variation on the tomato sauce thing is one of the simplest recipes I’ve used.  Roasting tomatoes under the oven broiler makes a very rich, savory sauce that can be used for pizzas or pasta dishes.

First start with some ripe tomatoes.  These came from our garden but this time of year you can get great tomatoes at almost any farmers market.  I cut them into quarters and place them into the oven roasting pans.  This batch used probably around 30 medium to large tomatoes.  That filled the two roasting pans.   Skins are never removed.  It’s just not right and it’s a lot of needless work.

Then I add about a quarter cup of olive oil to each roasting pan.  You can play with this and it does not hurt to add a bit more.

Next, liberally sprinkle salt (until you’ve done this a few times and know how much – less is better than more with salt), pepper and garlic powder (not garlic salt!).  I like lots of pepper and GP.  That’s all the seasoning I use on this.  Anything you wish to add can be worked into the particular dish you are preparing at a later date.

I put the tomatoes into the cold oven on the top rack and turn on the broiler.  I roast them under the broiler for exactly 15 minutes.  It helps to know your broiler as each one will require a different time to make all of the edges brown and tasty.  At 15 minutes in, I switch the oven to 350 degrees for about a half hour.  Then I turn off the oven completely.  I leave the tomatoes in the oven for at least 4 hours if not overnight.  I have a large pizza stone in the oven that retains heat so the tomatoes continue to cook and dehydrate a bit more as the oven cools down.

Next, take the cooled tomatoes out of the oven and place them in a blender.  You can blend to your taste. I like kind of a rough chop, which yields a very thick, chunky sauce.  Feel free to season the sauce more at this point but I think you will find that the sauce can be eaten just “as is”.  Sometimes simple is better.  Try this and tell me it’s not some of the best sauce you’ve ever tasted.

A couple shots of LA hot sauce or anchovy paste are things that seem add real depth to the tomato sauce.

These two plans filled the 1.6 liter container which is almost 2 quarts.  It will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks if you are going to use it or freezes very well.  That’s sauce for a lotta pasta. Enjoy!