roasted tomato sauce

CSA deliveries don't stop for nuthin'.

When I was sick for a week, eating pretty much only crackers and pasta, we still picked up our CSA share.

When that massive storm hit the DC area, having the audacity to knock out our power AND not bring enough rain to cool down the area, making me want to lay in a bath of ice all day and go nowhere near the stove or oven, we still picked up our CSA share.

When I finally decided I couldn't keep throwing out expired produce felt like cooking, I took stock of what vegetables I had leftover before doing anything else. A million scallions, a couple zucchini, and a few plum tomatoes, and a couple eggplants I picked up from the Farm a few days ago were staring at me from the kitchen counter. Since flipping through the Williams-Sonoma catalog at my parents' house and seeing jars for canning filled with homemade tomato sauce, I've been thinking about making a batch almost non-stop. It only seemed appropriate!

Bonus points for having a basil plant (that I've been growing from a seed! I'm so proud of myself) that has lots of leaves ready for picking!

                                                

Since I'm lazy I had raw tomatoes that needed to be cooked anyway, and wanted more flavor in my sauce, I decided that roasting all the components of the sauce would be a good, simple way to go.

You certainly don't have to use the same ingredients I did, these just happened to be the vegetables I had in the fridge. All vegetables are good vegetables, dudes!

                                       

Roasted Tomato Sauce (makes about 5-6 cups)


6-8 roma tomatoes
1 head garlic, top chopped off
6-8 large scallion bulbs, or one medium onion
1 medium eggplant, halved lengthwise
1 larger zucchini or two regular zucchinis, halved lengthwise
4 tablespoons olive oil
up to 1/4 cup fresh basil
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425*. Arrange veggies on a baking sheet large enough to fit them all in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Most of the olive oil should be concentrated over the garlic, to help it roast properly (and yes, you're supposed to leave the papery skin on it!). Don't be too shy with the garlic! Roasting it will make it a much sweeter component to the sauce. Roast the veggies for 45min-1hr, until they're all very tender and mashable. Transfer veggies to a blender and blend until smooth. In the very last seconds of blending, add basil. If this is too thick for you when finished, You could always transfer it to a pot, add a little water, and cook it in. I love my sauces on the thicker side so you can scoop up every last bit with a fork they really stick to the pasta. Enjoy over your favorite pasta!