Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce

After many years of making "scratch" tomato sauce from cans, I am finally getting back to my roots.  Southern Italian, slow roasted tomato sauce.  I was fortunate enough to be given a case of delicious Roma (also known as Paste) tomatoes.  These are a dense tomatoes with few seeds and they make a divine tomato sauce.  That is exactly what I thought as my friend asked if I wanted some.  Visions of tomato sauce, pasta, and pizza dancing in my head.

After diving into the case of tomatoes I discovered there were about half that were very ripe and about half that were nice and firm.  Are you thinking what I am thinking???  Sun dried tomatoes too!!!  But, lets get back on topic here.

I used the ripe tomatoes to make this delicious tomato sauce with rich and complex flavor!!!  I double the recipe when I make this sauce.

Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce - Yield 3 Cups

18 ripe Roma (Paste) tomatoes (halved and cored)

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 small onion, diced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper (fresh cracked - medium grind)
1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

2 tablespoons fresh basil, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 300°.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat mat.

In a microwave safe bowl combine onion, garlic and olive oil.  Microwave for 30 seconds to infuse the garlic and onion into the oil.   When you remove bowl from the oven you will smell the heavenly aroma of garlic and onion.  Add salt, pepper, italian seasoning and sugar to bowl and stir to combine.

Place cut tomatoes in a large mixing bowl, pour in the olive oil mixture over top and toss with your hands or a spoon.  Make sure all tomatoes are well coated.  Place tomatoes cut side up on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle with fresh basil, rosemary and any remaining olive oil mixture from the prep bowl.

Place on middle rack in oven.  Cook for 2 hours at 300°.  If doubling recipe rotate pans ½ way through.  After 2 hours of slow roasting, your tomatoes will look slightly caramelized like this

turn oven up to 400° and roast for 30 minutes, or until the tomatoes start to brown.  They will be caramelized and delicious.  If you prefer a brighter tomato sauce pull them out before they brown.  Approximately 10-15 minutes after you turn the oven to 400°.  These roasted for the full 30 minutes, you can see the edges of the tomato are nice and browned.

Remove pan from oven and transfer tomatoes to the bowl of a food processor.  Process until tomato sauce is at your desired consistency.  I like mine saucy, not too chunky.

Note:  The tomatoes will cook faster if you remove the seeds, so watch your time.

I have also made this without the onions and garlic.  I put the tomatoes on the pan and drizzled the olive oil over them.  Then sprinkled with the remaining ingredients.  The fresh garlic and onion impart such a deep level of flavors that I would recommend using these ingredients.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe - The Slow Roasted Italian.com