Roasted Tomato Sauce
This is my favourite way to make a rich tomato sauce. It does take some time but you literally put it in the oven and forget about it! The sauce is baked in the oven which means the edges get all sticky and caramelised and once stirred in, makes for a rich, delicious sauce! This saucy goodness is great with pasta or as a pizza base sauce. I also serve it with one of my favourite dinners, chicken Parmigiana.
Ingredients
(Makes enough for 4-6 size dependent pizzas)
4 cloves garlic, crushed
A good pinch of chilli flakes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 x 400g can whole cherry tomatoes
1 x 400g can tomato passata
A good pinch of salt
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
Roast It
Preheat oven to 200’C.
To make the tomato sauce crush 4 garlic cloves and heat 1/4 cup olive oil in an oven proof pot on medium heat. Add garlic to pot along with chilli flakes and cook for about 3 minutes stirring often, until garlic is golden. Add both cans of tomatoes and a good pinch of salt and bring to a simmer.
Once simmering, remove from heat and transfer to oven to cook for 1 hour-ish. After an hour remove from oven and scrape any burny bits off the side of the pot and into the sauce. Return to the oven to cook for 45mins to 1 hour. Check during cooking to ensure it’s not burning too much. If it is, turn the heat down or take it out.
Once cooked remove from oven and again scrape any burny bits back into the sauce. If your sauce is too thick you can add a splash of water and stir it in.
Season to taste with salt, pepper and maybe some sugar. Add Parmesan cheese and cool slightly before blending, until very smooth. You could also skip the blending and keep it chunky!
Use It
As a pizza base
As a pasta sauce
With my chicken Parmigiana
With my cheesy crumbed eggplant fritters (recipe to come)
Quick Marinated Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
(Makes enough for 4-6 size dependent pizzas)
2 cans crushed tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
A small hand full of basil leaves, roughly torn
A pinch of chilli flakes
A good pinch of salt
Marinate It
Combine all ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside to marinate at room temperature for 10 minutes. The longer you leave it the more flavour infusion. You could even make the day before and keep in the fridge overnight.