Roasted Tomatoes

Our tomato harvest was great this season. I planted about 45 pots of tomatoes of different varieties - some heirloom (thanks, Andrew!), salsa, Roma, and cherry. I had the firm resolution not to do to myself what I did last year in planting 90 tomato plants and was determined to thin out the seedlings even if it killed me. But, unbeknown to me, Joe lovingly separated all of the seedlings one morning before work, and when I next went out to the greenhouse I found over 100 plants growing strong. 109 to be exact - Edmund helped me count them after they were put out in the garden.

Needless to say, I had hundreds and hundreds of tomatoes come harvest time. We ate as many fresh tomatoes as we could, sold some at the farm stand, and gave some away. The rest became tomato-peach salsa, regular salsa, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, roasted red pepper spread, and dried tomatoes. One delicious recipe for a roasted tomato sauce came from a book Joe borrowed from someone at work. It was a book on raising pigs, but the author also included recipes for vegetables from his farm produce.

Roasting tomatoes was not a new concept to me - the roasted red pepper spread also called for roasting a few Roma tomatoes in the recipe. But I had never thought of making a large quantity of sauce out of the tomatoes. Once tried, though, I realized that I had stumbled upon a delicious, and easy, alternative to the pizza sauce I had made last year. The flavor is unique - deep, and garlicky. It is wonderful on pizza.


Roasted Tomato Sauce

Cut Roma or other Italian style tomatoes in half, and lay in a baking pan. Add 4-6 garlic cloves still in their skins to the pan. Drizzle with olive oil. A full bodied flavored oil works well. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Place in a 400 degree oven and roast until the tomato skins begin to blacken. Cool, and press through a sieve. I made mine in large quantities and canned the sauce according to The Ball Blue Book.