Aromatherapy: oven roasted tomato sauce

I love to cook Tomato-sauce; the whole house smells after tomato and summer.

I cook sauce low and slow like my Italian Step-dad showed me or fast and short like a mother of twins has to.

But If I have time, if I have ripe tomatoes, if I really want an easy way to have a lot of flavour I roast them in the oven.

Ingredients

5 pounds ripe tomatoes
2 or 3 large smashed garlic cloves unpeeled
¼ Cup Olive Oil (I like to use one that is flavoured with a little rosemary)

¼ - ½ Cup fresh herbs (you can use anything from parsley to basil, rosemary, thyme…)

Sea salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat to 400 degrees F

Wash the tomatoes and cut them into halves, you can now cut out the stems. Sprinkle a baking pan with the salt and pepper, add the garlic and herbs, lay the tomatoes cut side down into the dish. 
  Now you only have to drizzle the oil all over the tomatoes and transfer it into the oven.
Let it cook for 1-½ hours. The smell will make you hungry but be strong. 
Ad this point you should let the tomatoes cool down enough to be handled. Remove the skins they are not longer needed. 
Now you have to decide if you like your sauce to be smooth or chunky. 
You can just put everything into the blender and mix until it has the desired texture. Or you use your trusty potato masher to crush the bigger chunks.

Now you can just cook a little pasta, put the sauce onto some fresh baked bread, use it as a base for a dip, cook with it.


See you next time.