“Rough and Quick” Roasted Tomato Sauce (makes about 1 ½ cups of sauce)

I found myself at the end of last summer with an abudance of local tomatoes which were not of the Roma or Italian Plum variety. The thought of making slow roast tomatoes crossed my mind followed by the thought of making a roasted tomato sauce which would take far less time, under 2 hours from start to finish, and could be portioned out and frozen for later use. Only the third batch made it to the freezer. The first batch was completely consumed within an hour of coming out of the oven, the second lasted one week in the refrigerator and its remainder was consumed while the third batch was being cooked being the reason why the third batch made it to the freezer. 

This recipe uses all of the tomato,--skin, seeds, etc. If this is not your idea of tomato sauce feel free to stop reading here and go to the National Center for Home Food Preservation and check out their tomato sauce recipes. 

If you're planning to consume this sauce 1-2 weeks from making I recommend storing in an appropriate container in the back of the refrigerator. If you're planning to consume this sauce several months from making I recommend portioning out the batch to size(s) which work for your meal planning, place in freezer-safe bags or containers and freeze. To thaw, let sauce sit on the on the counter top for a few minutes if portion is small enough or place in luke warm water to thaw slowly. If you end up consuming this as soon as it comes out of the oven I recommend waiting at least 10-15 minutes for sauce to cool before eating. This is good as is, on homemade foccia bread or added to pasta. 

“Rough and Quick” Roasted Tomato Sauce (makes about 1 ½ cups of sauce) 

4 cups diced tomatoes (about 4 large or 6 medium size tomatoes) 

¼ cup olive or canola oil 

1 – 1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic or 1 – 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced 

1 ¼ teaspoons dried italian seasoning 

1) Place oven rack on middle rung. 

2) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees farenheit. 

3) Wash and dry tomatoes. Dice and place in 13-inch by 9-inch baking dish. 

4) Add oil, garlic and italian seasoning to baking dish. 

5) Stir all ingredients in baking dish two to five times or until coarsely mixed. 

6) Place in oven and cook 35 minutes – 1 hour until sauce is desired consistency, checking every 20 minutes and turning dish as needed to get an even roast.  

7) Remove sauce from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes if serving immediately. Otherwise, let sauce cool completely, about 1-3 hours, store in refrigerator for 1-2 weeks or portion out to freezer-safe bags or containers and freeze for later use.

The portion of the second batch which made 

it to the refrigerator and lasted for one week