Roasted Tomato Sauce

Tomatoes are our big crop. I plant a lot of plants and we bring in more tomatoes than anything else. When it comes to preserving them though...I am not too fond of the standard process. Most canning guides have you boil them, ice them, skin them and take out the seeds. There are 2 things I don't like about that process. One, it takes way too long and way too many dishes. Two, it's a lot of waste. I want to use all the tomato.

I have been asked for my sauce recipe. I posted it a couple years ago, Val at Collecting the Moments has posted her version as well.

Here's what you will need:

tomatoes
garlic
onion
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
basil
oregano

And I will warn you, I am one of those process cooks as opposed to a recipe follower....

Step one is to halve your tomatoes and place them in a large roasting pan. I tend to over-fill mine. I use mostly Roma tomatoes as there is less water in them and more meat. But when I make this my pan looks like the picture below. And this is a large, Thanksgiving turkey kind of roasting pan.

Next add garlic. I use a whole head. I bruise it, take the skins of and cut the cloves in half.

Next up, onion. I use about 1 medium. Cut in quarters. You can omit it or add more depending on your taste.

Sprinkle liberally with [sea] salt, pepper, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Don't skimp on either of these.


Dig your hands in and toss it all up until everything is nice and coated. Then stick it in the oven for 45 minutes or so at 400*. You want the skins shriveled and starting to blacken in a couple places.

When it's done cooking, transfer the tomatoes to a large bowl. I use my crock pot. It's up to you whether or not to get all the juices. I find the sauce too thin when I add them all. So I just make sure to get all the onion, garlic and tomatoes.

Add a whole lot of fresh basil and oregano (I am sure dry would work too). Then blend it up. I use my immersion blender. I have used my food processor in batches too. Keep blending. Then give it a taste. Add more salt, pepper, balsamic, olive oil, a drizzle of honey...until it tastes how you want.

Then you can place it in jars, containers, freezer bags and freeze it for later. If you check out Val's page, she can tell you more about canning it....be sure to read the comments.

Then go out to the garden and repeat the process again.