 |
Roasted tomato sauce, ready when I need it. A great use for all those summer tomatoes! |
Like other backyard gardeners, I wait long weeks through most of the summer for those first ripe, sun-warmed tomatoes. But truth be told, there are only so many fresh tomato tastings, BLT sandwiches, and caprese salads a moderate tomato liker such as myself can handle.
On my first post-vacation harvest, I came in with a shirtload of our favorite heirlooms, the Cherokee purple. Far too many for BLTs...however, just the right amount for a batch of roasted tomato sauce!
Within an hour, these just ripe tomatoes, gently unloaded from the bottom half of my shirt were transformed into a couple of generous portions of sauce that I froze and will certainly thank myself for on some future busy weeknight.
And an instant gratification bonus for my smart planning and thoughtful food preservation? A homemade bloody Mary unlike any bloody Mary you've had. Keep reading...
Roasted Tomato Sauce Recipe
8 med-large tomatoes
6 or more cloves of garlic
a pinch of salt
a tiny pinch of pepper
a tiny pinch of sugar
a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
optional: fresh or dried herbs such as basil or oregano (I generally leave the herbs out so I can customize later on according to what I'm using my sauce for).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle olive oil in a large baking pan. I usually end up using a couple of pans to contain all the tomatoes. Evenly sprinkle salt, sugar, and pepper in the pan. Cut tomatoes in half (
I don't like too many seeds in my sauce, so I squeeze the seeds out into a strainer set over a bowl. The juice that strains through becomes the base for my bloody Mary. If you don't mind seeds and have no interest in the excuse-to-drink-early-in-the-day cocktail, you can skip this step). Place tomatoes cut side down in the pans. Throw the garlic cloves in with the tomatoes.
 |
Halved Cherokee Purple tomatoes ready to go in the oven. |
Roast in the oven for about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Pull off skins and break up tomato chunks with a fork or potato masher. Reheat if using, or pack, label, and store in the freezer.
*** Often, the tomatoes will release a lot of juice while cooking, making the sauce too thin for my liking. I will either pour off some of the liquid (which I could use for another purpose like as a soup base), or I'll mash the tomatoes as usual and then cook the sauce down a bit to thicken it up.
 |
Fork-crushed and ready to go! Puree with a stick blender if you prefer a more even texture. |
*****************************************************************************
Brie's Bodacious Bloody Mary Recipe
No part of this process goes to waste! With the tomato juice that I've strained into my bowl, I end up with one perfect portion of the base for one of my favorite cocktails (I just add a few ounces of vodka). While I just make a single serving of my friend Brie's bloody Mary mix, she is a huge tomato grower and mixes up zillions of mason jars full of the stuff - chilled on ice and ready to add merriment to an annual summer bash she throws. She knows her bloody Marys. Here's Brie's recipe below for a big invite-your-friends sized batch of the mix. Haven't tried her spicy tomato juice yet. I'm saving that one for after this weekend's pepper harvest!
 |
I squeezed the seeds out of my tomato halves and ended up with this jar of juice. It's ready to use in the freshest, lightest-yet-most-flavorful bloody Mary I've had! Thanks for the recipe Brie! |