Out here in the Northwest we’ve had a hot, hot summer- which has led to a bountiful tomato season. It’s not usually this easy to grow tomatoes out here in Portland; the summer light is intense but often short lived. This year’s summer started in March and so it has been a major treat for us grey sky dwellers.
Friends are pawning pounds & pounds of tomatoes on me this week! Here is my way of using up some of these summer souvenirs.
This is not your grandpa’s tomato sauce. Though I love the smell of simmering sauce all day long, the stirring and dipping that comes with making incredible homemade tomato sauce on early Fall days is often too long and hot a process for summer afternoons better spent playing outside. So here is an easy breezy tomato sauce for when those first harvest come but canning is out of the question.
Savory Roasted Tomato Sauce
This recipe makes a pint of sauce. I filled up a baking sheet with this many tomatoes
11 medium san marzano (or romas)
2 small green/underripe tomatoes
3 small heirlooms
5 cloves garlic, peeled
6 inch sprig of fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Preheat the oven to 400F. Rinse all tomatoes and cut just in half. Place on a baking sheet along with the sprig of rosemary and the cloves of garlic.
Set your timer for 45 minutes and pop that pan into the oven. Go do your thing and when the timer is done, transfer these roasted goodies into a blender, along with the salt and extra virgin olive oil. Take the rosemary off the twig and add the leaves. Blend on medium for a minute, give it a taste to see if you’d like to add anything else to it, then transfer to a jar. Let it cool before you put it in the fridge! Enjoy for the next several days or freeze!