Oven Roasted Chunky Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce

I found a new blog recently. I forget how I got to her blog. Anda has some amazing recipes. I cannot stop just looking at all the photos. When I was there, I saw the recipe for a tomato soup. I am not a tomato soup fan. But when I looked her soup, I realized that I will love her soup.

I decided I am going to use that recipe to make tomato sauce for my pasta. I did change a few bits here and there, but stuck to the main theme of the dish. I think I will never buy a bottle of tomato sauce. I had some tomatoes I had bought to make pickle. But now that will have to wait.

I also bought a small basil plant instead of the packed basil. Given my luck with plants, not sure if this will last. But this is not gardening, its just a small pot sitting on your kitchen window. I think I can survive that. 

The inspiration for this was when we were in Wales a couple of weekends ago. We were driving thru a small village in the middle of no where. It had a small restaurant. We took seats outside on the patio after ordering pasta with tomato sauce (the menu was meagre. the only vegetarian option was this). It was such a simple dish. But we finished every little bit of the plate. It was so comforting.

Ingredients

Tomatos 11
Basil 20 leaves (more to serve)
Dried Italian Herbs 1 tbsp
Oil 3 + 1 tbsp
Garlic 3 cloves
Green Peas (optional) 1 cup
Pepper Powder 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste



Method of Preparation

1. Preheat an oven to 175C. In the mean while cut the tomatoes into half. Arrange them in a pan with the cut side facing up.

2. Mix the oil, dry herbs and salt in a small bowl. Brush this mixture on the top of the tomatoes.

3. Bake them for 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove the skin from the tomatoes. Look how lovely they look with all the juices....



4. Make a paste of garlic. In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil. Add the garlic and let is sizzle for a few seconds. Add the tomatoes along with all the juices.

5. Mash all of it together with the back of the spatula. You can also run it thru a blender before adding if you want a smooth sauce. I was looking the chunky tomatoes.

6. Add the basil leaves (chop it a little before adding). Mix well.

7. You can add some fresh or frozen peas as well. Depends what you are doing with the sauce. I will skip it if I were using for Pizza or Eggplant parmigiana. As I was making Pasta, I decided to add peas.

8. Simmer for a few minutes and switch off. Serve topped with more basil leaves.



Linking this to EP - Herbs and spices - Basil and Cardamom Event by Julie, hosted by Prathibha
Linking this to I Love Baking - Event by Radhika