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 desparately 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!
Roasted Tomato and Garlic Sauce
Makes enough for 4 pasta servings.
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
4-5 cloves of garlic
olive oil (about 1/4 cup total)
coarse sea salt
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 it all with some large pinches of coarse sea salt. Put the pan in the oven. Cook 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. Toss the sauce over your favorite pasta. Add freshly grated cheese and sausage if you like. Or, add a little cream to the tomato and garlic puree if you want a creamier sauce.
March 28th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
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.
March 28th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
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.
March 28th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
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!
March 28th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
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.
March 29th, 2009 at 11:50 am
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?
March 29th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
why that’s the coolest thing ever! canned tomatoes are good in a pinch but if you have the time.. heyyyyy…. yumO
March 29th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I have 2 pints of cherry tomatoes in my fridge right now. Thank you for giving me the perfect idea for dinner tomorrow!!
March 31st, 2009 at 7:09 pm
This sounds amazingly simple and good. can’t wait to try it!
April 1st, 2009 at 10:54 am
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!
April 1st, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I suspect that you meant to say ‘coarse sea salt’ rather than ‘course sea salt’. Damn those spell checkers!
January 25th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
[...] first course was a roasted tomato soup which was basically this sauce pureed with some vegetable stock. I loved the contrast of starting with red tomato soup and then [...]
May 23rd, 2010 at 9:47 pm
[...] will never learn to like. I wasn’t much of a chef at age 16 so I didn’t know enough to roast them with garlic or use them in panini. I loved those space tomatoes, I just didn’t eat [...]
January 17th, 2012 at 10:01 pm
raw chocolate…
[...]Roasted Tomato and Garlic Sauce with Pasta :: Whipped[...]…