This oven roasted tomato sauce is the easiest way to use up and store the bounty from your summer garden. Its versatile, bursting with flavor and the perfect base for Jollof, pasta sauces, stews and much more.
What tomatoes to Use
Most years, between my neighbor and I, there is a variety of heirloom tomatoes growing. With how plentiful the harvest is, we do not limit ourselves to a specific variety based on water content. When it comes to making this sauce, we use a medley of tomatoes as you can see. Growing a variety with fewer seeds and a meatier texture is ideal but don’t ditch the cherry tomatoes just yet. The variety comes together wonderfully once roasted.
***The Seeds***
Seeds are not removed before roasting the tomatoes. You are welcome to but after roasting and blending, we notice there is no significant difference whether we removed the seeds or not.
Roasting the tomatoes
On that beautiful Saturday we probably picked about 15 pounds of tomatoes. Start by giving them a thorough wash. Even though they are home grown and organic you still need to clean them up. Then we layer them on baking sheets that are deep enough to hold some of the tomato juices during roasting. We are also bringing in some sweet onions , garlic (Whole bulb unpeeled and wrapped in foil) and some black pepper. Feel free to add in some dried herbs. Think oregano, basil, thyme and more.
Drizzle a generous amount of cooking oil that is appropriate for a 400°F convection oven. We are using avocado oil but you can use olive oil at a lower oven temp. Toss to coat tomatoes and onions, then roast for about 45 minutes or until you see some color on them.
Making the Tomato Sauce
Let everything cool for a few minutes before blending. Squeeze out garlic cloves from the bulb. Use a high power blender if you could so you get that smooth velvety texture. For a thicker sauce, leave most of the tomato juice caught at the bottom of the pan but use it up for a thinner sauce. ***At this point, you can make yourself a grilled cheese sandwich and enjoy with a seasoned ladle of the sauce***
Taste and season the batch to your liking before storing.
Ways to use your oven roasted tomato sauce
Use as a starting point for most tomato based recipes. It is rich in flavor and already cooked down to the perfect consistency. With the variety of tomatoes used, we have a slightly sweet sauce.
Jollof Rice: Use this sauce with some broth and other spices to cut down cooking time for your jollof rice. Enjoy this recipe using your oven roasted tomato sauce
Pasta Sauce: Bring in the basil and other aromatics and build up your perfect pasta sauce.
Pizza: Pizza night doesn’t get any easier and tastier. Spread a hefty lable, add your favorite toppings, cheese, bake and enjoy.
Stews: Rice and stew is one of our favorites and this just makes the cook time a lot shorter. Make chicken or beef stew with this.
Storing your tomato Sauce
You can store sauce in the refrigerator for up to one week in a mason jar or any airtight container. We have enough to last a while so we will be freezing them. It is important to freeze in amounts that you can thaw and use up in one meal. A cup or two max. Souper cubes or any freezer appropriate Ziplock bags will do.
This oven roasted tomato sauce really simplifies recipes for us and you’ll enjoy it as much as we do.
You must be logged in to post a comment.