Recipe Vicki Ravlich-Horan Images Ashlee DeCaires
Every spring I plant way too many tomato plants, especially considering I’m the only person in the family that eats tomatoes.
The family do love pizza night every Saturday and pasta though, so a few years back I started roasting up my tomato crop and turning it into this versatile sauce.
The recipe below is just a guide. Add more garlic if you love it. Use brown onions if you don’t have red … If space permits, and you have the tomatoes, double or quadruple the recipe.
2kg tomatoes
1–2 red onions, peeled and quartered
1 red capsicum, chopped into 4–6 large pieces, seeds removed
2–3 cloves garlic, peeled
slosh of extra virgin olive oil
salt
fresh basil or oregano
Depending on the size of the tomatoes, i.e. if they are big beefsteak ones, cut them in half or quarters; if cherry, leave whole.
Place the tomatoes on an oven tray on top of the onions, capsicum and garlic.
Drizzle over some olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
Roast in the oven at 175°C for 1–2 hours. You want the onion and capsicum to be soft.
The longer you roast them the more intense the sauce will be, as more of the liquid will have evaporated. For instance, I roast longer if I’m making pizza sauce than I do if wanting a light pasta sauce.
Allow to cool, then place in a blender with herbs and puree until smooth.
If I’m not using in the next few days I freeze the sauce in Ziploc bags. This means I can stack them in my freezer. Last year I made enough to last us nearly all year.
