Penne with Easy, Homemade Roasted Tomato and Garlic Sauce
I blinked and this week was gone. Part of the problem may have been that I finally joined Facebook. I have resisted the force until now but finally lost the battle. I am still learning the ropes, enjoying photos of friends and their kids and desperately trying not to get sucked in too often.
Last Sunday, when I served this plate of pasta to my husband, he said it tasted like he was at a good Italian restaurant! Mini Whipped also expressed her satisfaction through a series of squeals and leg kicks. I think I figured out the ultimate red sauce trick: roasting fresh tomatoes. Stephen at the HOG Food Blog first gave me the idea when he posted this tip for spring tomatoes. I had forgotten about it until he wrote about it again on his latest post about Tomato Soup.
I may have mentioned before (a few dozen times) that I don’t eat raw tomatoes. Lately, each week, I have found a pint of cherry tomatoes in my organic produce delivery. Now I know exactly what to do with them! If you have time, follow Chef Stephen’s tip for Roma Tomatoes, which takes two hours in a low temperature oven. If you don’t have that much time, try my altered version below. Truly, it was the easiest and best pasta recipe that has come out of the Whipped kitchen!
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Easy, Homemade Roasted Tomato and Garlic Sauce for Pasta or Pizza
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
This simple red sauce is delicious on pizza as well. Sometimes I triple or even quadruple the recipe and freeze extra to use later.
Ingredients
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
4–5 cloves of garlic
olive oil (about 1/4 cup total)
coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil on a sheet pan and spread it around with your fingers so it is covered liberally.
- Cut tomatoes in half and place them on the pan, open side up.
- Peel the garlic and cut each clove in half and place them around between the tomatoes. Drizzle more olive oil over the tomatoes and garlic.
- Sprinkle the garlic and tomatoes with some large pinches of coarse sea salt. Put the pan in the oven.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, checking to be sure garlic is not burned. Remove from the oven when garlic is roasted and tomatoes are bubbly.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes. Then, scrape the contents of the entire pan into a blender.
- Pulse until you have a thick puree. Sometimes I leave a few chunks of tomato, blend until it’s the consistency you like.
- Taste and add more salt if needed.
- Toss the sauce with your favorite pasta. Add freshly grated cheese and sausage if you like.
Notes
Add a little cream to the tomato and garlic puree if you want a creamy sauce.
This recipe makes enough sauce for about 4 servings of pasta or two small pizzas
I can’t wait till tomato season! Hitting up the farmers market and grabbing ruby red fresh tomatoes is the best way to spend a summer morning… This is going to be made all the time.
I’ve also done this with breadcrumbs sprinkled on top of the halved tomatoes before roasting. It makes the sauce a bit thicker without the addition of cream.
This looks like such a fresh and easy way to make homemade sauce. This is a method I would love to try out, especially come tomato season!
I have been doing something similar with broiled heirloom tomatoes, essentially the same recipe but adding thyme and basil as well. Sometimes I just eat it as a lumpy soup. Sometimes I broil it with salmon and serve it over linguine for my husband.
I think I have become slightly addicted; I can NOT get enough broiled heirloom tomatoes.
Would this work with regular-sized, large tomatoes as well? How would I need to change the roasting time to make sure it is cooked through?
why that’s the coolest thing ever! canned tomatoes are good in a pinch but if you have the time.. heyyyyy…. yumO
I have 2 pints of cherry tomatoes in my fridge right now. Thank you for giving me the perfect idea for dinner tomorrow!!
This sounds amazingly simple and good. can’t wait to try it!
This sounds delicious! I will have to try this. And I hear you regarding Facebook – I joined last September and I’m addicted as well!
I suspect that you meant to say ‘coarse sea salt’ rather than ‘course sea salt’. Damn those spell checkers!