You know how I’ve been complaining about the abundance of zucchini from my garden the past few weeks? Well, now it seems to be done and the tomatoes have taken over in full force. I picked 20 just yesterday.
And you know the funny thing? Nobody in my house, including me, likes raw tomatoes. So that means I’ve been searching for recipes to use them up (and I’ve given away a big bowl to my parents too).
I knew I wanted to make a huge batch of tomato sauce that I could freeze and have on hand once the peanut arrives. I went searching on Pinterest for something a little unique and this recipe immediately caught my eye. I’ve said before that I love roasting veggies because it brings out such a delicious sweetness so I knew this would be a great recipe to use up a bunch of those garden fresh tomatoes.
The recipe resulted in a sweet, garlicky sauce that will be so delicious (and easy) for the upcoming months. And who wouldn’t love to have a nice stock of fresh tomato sauce in the freezer all winter long to remind you of sweet summer?
- 3-4 pounds ripe tomatoes, stems removed
- 1 medium onion, halved and sliced
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, smashed and peeled
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. dried parsley
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. sugar + more depending on taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise, then arrange them cut-side down, in one layer on a large, rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Arrange the onions, garlic and herbs over the top, then drizzle the whole thing evenly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, sugar, and pepper.
- Bake for an hour and a half to two hours, until the tomatoes are browning in spots and have fully collapsed. Around an hour in, the tomatoes will be sitting in a flood of juice in their pans, and then this juice will reduce as they cook further, which is what you want for a the thickest and most flavorful sauce.
- At this point, you have two choices. Either put the contents of the pan (including all the juices), through a food mill (this will make a smooth, skinless and seedless sauce) or you can blend it all in a blender or food processor, which will make a good but more roughly textured and seedy sauce. Taste the sauce, it will likely need a bit more salt and more sugar too, if it seems acidic (I added about 1 Tbsp. more sugar and just a bit more salt).
- Serve sauce over hot pasta or allow it to cool completely for freezing. I spooned the sauce into muffin tins and froze them completely. Once frozen, run a bit of hot water around the pan and pop them out. Place into labeled freezer bags and store for future use.
