We have too many tomatoes. This sounds like a fabulous title for a children’s book. . . So, Dan has been harvesting these little and gigantic gems for 2 weeks. All of the plants pulled through the blight quite well. The lesson learned this year, after having fun experimenting with so many varieties, is be a little more selective. Some produced better than others. The German Strawberry was the show off of the bunch. The fruits were gigantic, 2lbs. no kidding. There is no room in this garden for egos that big.
For the past few years I have been making this version of sauce and freezing it. My mom taught me this recipe trick. I prefer it to the traditional sauce for its color, flavor profile and ease in preparing. It adds a special something to bland ravioli and a great texture to pasta. Who says tomato sauce is just for pasta? Try this on roasted squash, chicken or with seafood. I love roasting my veggies . . . all kinds.
This sauce is crazy easy to make and my quantity and basic ingredients can be changed. In the photo above you see all the ingredients prepared on the pan and ready to be roasted. Here it is,
roasted tomato sauce phoebe’s mom style
- 3lbs (give or take) of tomatoes
- 3 cups carrots, sliced into 1/4″ slices
- 3 onions, halved then sliced into 1/2 inch slices
- 8 cloves of garlic, give or take
- fresh thyme / oregano / rosemary (if you like heat add crushed red pepper flakes. for something very different try a chinese 5 spice)
- OPTIONAL Additions:
eggplant
peppers
Preheat the oven to 425˚I put aluminum foil on my pans and spray with non-stick spray/olive oil for the ease of clean up. Halve the tomatoes, removing as many seed and place face down on the pan. Spread the other veggies in between and lightly spray the top with olive oil (I have a pump spray that is very handy), sprinkle with salt, pepper and the herbs.
Keep them in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, checking after 30 minutes. When they get nice and toasty (below) remove from the oven and let them rest about 20 minutes. Peel the skin from the tomato, it will come easily after the roasting, and discard.
Put everything in a food processor or blender and whiz it to your desired texture. If you like you can add some fresh basil at this point but that’s up to you. That’s it. Taste to see if you need a pinch of sugar or salt. Once cool, place in freezer safe jars and freeze.
ThAnk you for this amazing recipe!!! Just when I was wondering what to do with all the crazy beautiful tomatoes that are on a rampage in my garden! Yum – looking forward to savoring them for months to come, thanks to you ?