Easy Roasted Tomato Sauce

 I love growing tomatoes in my garden. Nolan and I especially love a variety called Oxheart. As you can see from the photos, these tomatoes tend to be large! They also are slow growing and ripen late in the season. This is why I now have an abundance of tomatoes sitting in the sunroom. I've been making roasted tomato sauce with these because it is so EASY! I know there are lots of recipes floating around the web for this type of sauce but I thought I'd share my method. 

 Generally people roast a less juicy tomato like a Roma, but I think a juicy tomato works well for this sauce. You just have to roast it a little (or a lot) longer! Step one: wash your tomatoes. Since my tomatoes came from our backyard garden, I know the only thing that needs washed off is a little dirt.

 You'll need a cutting board, sharp knife, pan to roast the tomatoes (it must have sides or you'll have a grand mess) olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and any herb you prefer.

 Cut out the stem end and any bruised or "nasty" parts of the tomato. No need to peel it. Once you have all the bad sections in the compost, cut the tomato into cubes.

 Fill the tray making sure the tomatoes aren't overlapping too much. Drizzle with olive oil (I always say more is better than less), add salt and pepper to your liking (see note on olive oil) and toss to coat.

 Roast at 400F. for 45 minutes to an hour depending on your tomato type and how many you're roasting. You can see from my pan on the right, I roasted a little too long. No worries, it all came out wonderfully anyway! Check the tomatoes every 20 minutes or so and give them a stir. Let them cool a little once done.

 Today I used bottled garlic and oregano from our garden. Generally I like to roast whole garlic cloves with the tomatoes. Unfortunately I didn't have any so I went with the bottled. 

 Dump all the ingredients into a blender. I don't measure the garlic or herbs, I just add until I think it looks good (or I run out of something!) Blend for a few seconds to puree. 

 There you have it: Delicious roasted tomato sauce. We like this sauce for our spaghetti squash because it really sticks. I'm putting these in the freezer for a later date. I still have a table full of tomatoes that I'm letting ripen a little longer. I bet I have enough for another 4-6 pints of sauce. Yum!

Now....who wants to do the dishes?