If you ever spot tomatoes reduced at your local shop, buy them all and make a huge batch of this sauce. It’s also a great way of using up the last of the greenhouse tomatoes, the ones that are a bit misshapen and have split their skin. Like most of my recipes its really easy, and it’s quite versatile too. You can spoon over chicken or fish, and top with cheese before popping in the oven, use as a pasta sauce, or add some additional liquid and it makes a delicious soup.
Ingredient List
- Tomatoes (at least 12 but as many as you have really)
- 2 red peppers
- 2 red onions
- 2 tbsp rapeseed or vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp mixed herbs
- 4 cloves garlic
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 200°c. Chop tomatoes, peppers and onions into fairly large chunks, leave garlic cloves whole and in their skin, toss in oil and herbs and lay in a fairly even layer on a large ovenproof tray.
Roast for about 30 mins till everything is soft and just catching at the edges.
Roast tomatoes, peppers and red onions
Allow to cool and squeeze out the garlic from its skin and discard skin. Put everything into a liquidiser scraping all the lovely sticky juices in too (or a suitable bowl/pan if you are using a stick blender) add just enough water to allow you to blend to a thick paste. Decant into jars or bowls; it will keep for a few days in the fridge or three months in the freezer.
Jars of sauce ready for the freezer
This recipe is a really rough guide, just up the quantities if you have more tomatoes, and you can always remove the red peppers, or chilli to it if you want a bit of heat.
It’s a healthy alternative to the usual jars of pasta sauce which are often full of salt and hidden sugar.
I make up big batches and freeze them, then grab a jar if I’m stuck for dinner. I put on a big pan of pasta and while its cooking chop and fry a couple of strips of bacon, add the sauce, warm through, and serve: dinner takes as long as it does for your pasta to cook; generally, less than ten minutes. If you are feeling really fancy you can add fresh basil to the sauce and grate parmesan over the top!
