This recipe is truly one of those- use what you have on hand situations. You’ll need tomatoes, olive oil, herbs, salt & pepper. I often add thinly sliced onion &/or chopped garlic too. The best part is that it can be used in so many ways. It is perfection with pasta or as pizza sauce. It also works amazing as a dipping sauce or a base for tomato soup, chili, or stew.
I start by lining a cookie sheet with aluminum foil & preheating the oven. Then I decide how I will prep my tomatoes based on what kinds I have on hand.
For larger juicer tomatoes I slice in half & gently squeeze out the excess juice. You can strain the juice through a fine-mesh strainer if you like, to remove extra seeds but I find this unnecessary. Hold on to this juice though you can use it later.
For smaller, cherry-type tomatoes, I often leave them whole.
After they are all prepped & laid out I sprinkle them with whatever herbs I have on hand. Usually some combination or variation of basil, thyme, oregano, rosemary &/or garlic & onion. I use fresh herbs & seasonings whenever available but drying will result in the same delicious sauce. After adding the herbs I sprinkle everything with salt & pepper, then drizzle with olive oil & in the oven it goes for about an hour.
Once the tomatoes are all roasty I remove them from the oven & allow them to cool enough to handle. I like to pull up the edges of the foil & create a slide right into a pot large enough to fit my batch (plus the reserved tomato juice if you have it. I like to allow them to simmer super low for 30 minutes to an hour, although sometimes longer. After it simmers for a while I take my immersion/stick blender to it. A regular blender will also work however I recommend allowing the sauce to cool before blending it. Then I taste & add more salt & pepper as needed.
This sauce can be served immediately or stored in the fridge. I often make a batch days ahead of time to make dinner prep later in the week much easier.
Roasted Tomato sauce is fabulous served over The Last Meatball Recipe You’ll Ever Need
Easy Roasted Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- Tomatoes
- Herbs Fresh or dried *Notes
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive Oil
- Garlic Chopped-fresh or dried
- Onion Thinly sliced-fresh or dried
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425° & line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
- Wash and prepare tomatoes. Slice & strain if needed. Larger juicer tomatoes- cut in half & strain off excess juice if needed. Smaller varieties can stay whole.
- Sprinkle with herbs, salt & pepper, garlic & onion. Then drizzle with olive oil.
- Put the tomatoes into the oven to roast for one hour. Once they have cooled enough pull up the aluminum foil & create a tomato slide into a sauce pot large enough for your batch.
- Bring this to a low simmer for 30 minutes to an hour. Then blitz with an immersion blender or wait until cool enough to add to a blender. Please use caution when using the blender method & always vent the top when blending hot ingredients.
- Serve or store in the fridge for up to a week.
