This is going to be a recipe sans photo, since it got gobbled up too quickly by the two of us for me to photograph it. But since I posted about the deliciousness of it on Facebook, my friends have been demanding I post the recipe, so here goes.
I got a food mill for Christmas, which I’d been wanting to put to use. Not being consumers of mashed potatoes, baby food or applesauce, there were few things I could make using this shiny new tool. I’d wanted to make my own tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes, since many sauces have onion powder added to them, which SB is allergic to. On top of that, jarred pasta sauces are something I like to use for certain recipes, although after this recipe, I don’t know that I’ll ever buy a jarred sauce again. Many jarred sauces have added corn syrup in addition to onions, neither of which SB can eat, so I set out to make my own. I needed the recipe to be easy, tasty, and something I could make regularly. I’ll say this: as long as I have access to fresh Roma tomatoes, I’ll make this recipe over and over.
Here’s how I did it. You will need:
- about 2 pounds Roma tomatoes, cut lengthwise
- non-stick cooking spray
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1 extra for sauteeing the garlic
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 cloves fresh garlic, chopped into small pieces but not minced (I like mine a bit more rustic)
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil (you can increase this as you like)
- kosher salt
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Meanwhile, prepare a rimmed baking sheet by spraying it with a bit of non-stick cooking spray. Arrange the halved tomatoes in rows on the sheet, and drizzle the olive oil over the tomatoes so that they are lightly coated with the oil. Sprinkle salt over the tops of the tomatoes, and place the pan on the middle rack of the oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the skins just start to brown and the tomatoes are nice and soft–keep an eye on the tomatoes, because you don’t want them to get too brown.
Remove them from the oven, and allow them to cool for about 30 minutes. For the next step you can elect to use either a food mill, or a blender. I didn’t want skin or seeds in my sauce, so the food mill was perfect.
I put the fine grinding disc into my food mill because I wanted a smooth sauce. Placing the food mill over a bowl, put the tomatoes in (carefully so you don’t lose any juice!) and turn the handle so that you can get as much lovely puree as possible. If you use a blender, just put all the roasted tomatoes in the blender and puree.
Finally, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan or other pan (I used a Dutch oven since I was going to heat meatballs in it with the sauce) and lightly saute the garlic. Once the garlic softens, add the puree, tomato paste, and basil. Stir over medium heat so that the sauce thickens up a bit. Cook over medium-low heat so the flavors meld and serve with your favorite pasta.
This recipe made about 2 cups of sauce, which I served over homemade meatballs and al dente spaghetti.
mexcellenteats 