Knock up a batch of intensely flavoursome roasted tomato sauce and use it to produce a variety of dishes.
Roasting brings out the natural sweetness of many vegetables and fruits, and one that benefits enormously from this process is ripe tomatoes.
Top tips
- If you prefer a more refined sauce, use a stick blender or a food processor to whizz the cooked tomatoes until smooth.
- Give the sauce a Middle Eastern flavour by adding a broken cinnamon stick to the tomatoes before cooking and replacing the basil with fresh coriander.
- When choosing, look for firmish, fragrant tomatoes with an intense colour. Tomatoes still attached to the vine often have a sweeter flavour. Roast a mixture of cherry, medium, plum and vine to give a great flavoured sauce.
Roast tomato sauce
Makes about 500ml (serves 6 with pasta)
Takes 15 minutes to make, about 1 hour to roast
Use this sauce on pasta, pizzas, with roasted fish, diluted with stock or as a soup…the possibilities are endless!
Freeze: Divide the cooked, cooled sauce between freezer bags. Seal, label with the date and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight before using, or you can heat gently in a pan until bubbling, if you’re short of time.
1kg ripe medium tomatoes, halved
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp sun-dried tomato purée
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Handful fresh basil leaves, torn
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan170°C/ gas 5. Spread the tomatoes out, cut-side-up, in a large roasting tin. You may need to use 2 tins if they won’t fit in a single layer. Press the chopped garlic pieces into the tomato flesh to submerge slightly, sprinkle with sugar, salt and pepper and dot with sun-dried tomato purée. Drizzle with olive oil and roast for about 1 hour, until soft and slightly charred in places.
2. Scatter with the basil leaves, crushing the tomatoes down with a fork as you do to form a sauce. Cool and keep, covered, in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze (see top tips, above).
Confit tomatoes
For a more intense and sweeter flavour, prepare the tomatoes for the basic sauce, then roast for 2½ hours at 150°C/fan130°C/gas 2 until reduced and concentrated.
Cool. Store in a jar, covered with olive oil, in the fridge for up to 7 days. Use in salads or on bruschetta.
Roast garlic
Roasted garlic is much milder and sweeter than raw garlic.
To roast a garlic bulb, cut in half horizontally, drizzle with olive oil and wrap loosely in foil with a sprig of thyme. Roast at 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4 for 30 minutes, until soft.
Squeeze the garlic out of its skin to use it. Stir into the roasted tomato sauce or add to a creamy béchamel to use for lasagne.
Tomato-based dishes
Roast tomato soup
1. Dilute the finished tomato sauce (see main recipe, above) with 300ml hot vegetable stock and whizz in a blender until smooth.
2. Serve hot or chilled with a spoonful of fresh pesto drizzled over each of the 4 small or 2 large bowlfuls.
Spiced prawns
Serves 2
Ready in about 10 minutes
1. Fry 1 sliced onion in a little olive oil for 5 minutes, until golden.
2. Stir in 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger and ½ teaspoon each roughly crushed cumin and coriander seeds. After a minute or so, add ½ teaspoon ground turmeric, a pinch of crushed dried chillies and 250g raw, peeled large prawns.
3. Stir for a couple of minutes until the prawns turn pink, then pour in half of 1 quantity (about 250ml) of the roast tomato sauce (see main recipe, above). Finish with a sprinkling of chopped coriander and serve with steamed rice.