Ingredients
Basic Recipe
- 8 c. cherry tomatoes or 24 medium tomatoes
- 2 medium onions, quartered
- 8-10 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2-3 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 - 4 tsp salt
Optional
- basil leaves
- 1-3 cans tomato paste, optional
Instructions
- Wash and stem the cherry tomatoes or wash and core the whole tomatoes. Split them evenly, in a single layer, between 2 9×13″ baking dishes. The larger tomatoes can be left whole; they will break down during the roasting process.
- Toss the quartered onions and peeled garlic cloves evenly between the two pans. Drizzle with olive oil and season generously with salt.
- Roast at 220 degrees for 30-40 minutes. The timing isn’t an exact science. The combination will smell incredibly fragrant, and the tomatoes and onions will look wrinkled, roasted, and slightly charred. For a thicker sauce, cook longer and stir occasionally to keep from burning. Remove the pans from the oven and set on the counter to cool for 10-15 minutes.
- Place a large colander inside a large bowl and dump the pans into the colander to strain out the juice. Set the juice aside.
- Scoop the tomato mixture into the bowl of a blender or food processor; add the basil leaves. Puree until it reaches the desired consistency. Dump the pureed tomato sauce into the reserved juice and stir until thoroughly combined. Season with additional salt, if needed. (You could also add tomato paste if you desire a thicker sauce.)
- Serve immediately as pasta or pizza sauce or freeze in plastic containers or bags for later use.
Notes
- So, I never add the basil or the tomato paste, I like the sauce the thickness it is, and I prefer to choose my herbs when I know exactly what it is I'm making.
- This makes quite a bit of sauce, which we use for pasta/ pizza sauce, a soup base, or for pouring over grilled polenta slabs...
- We tend to buy the big bags of ripe to overripe tomatoes from the green grocer, the kind that is 2-3 kg and costs 0.99 to 1.99c a bag... big spenders I know, but these tomatoes are perfect for this and if you have nothing better to do than go home, unpack your bounty and make tomato sauce all day then thats awesome too. Smells fantastic. Sure there may be a bad one in the bag, but you're going to wash them anyway. I honestly cut my larger tomatoes into 2 to 8 pieces, mostly because I'm too lazy to prepare as many trays as i would need if i tried to bake them whole... I buy 2-4 bags at a time...
- We also have a cherry tomato vine or many... the kind that produces buckets of marble sized fruits in a season... we used to give them away, force them on our visiting vegan friends, now we make sauce, you don't have to do anything, just collect, rinse in a colander and topple them into the tray with everything else, sweet and flavourful.