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Makes about 2 cups of sauce
30 minutes preparation time
40 minutes cooking time
4-5 large heirloom tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
5-6 garlic cloves
10-12 basil leaves, torn
Salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Core the tomatoes and cut them in half. Lay them with the cut sides facing up in a roasting pan or jelly roll pan. Leave the garlic cloves in their skins and sprinkle them over the tomatoes. Drizzle the olive oil on top. Roast the tomatoes until they are very soft and the edges have browned, about 40 minutes. If you are using heirlooms, a good bit of liquid will come out of the tomatoes as they cook. Carefully remove the pan from the oven.
Set a colander in a large bowl. Pour some of the liquid from the tomatoes into the colander and set the pan aside until the tomatoes are cool enough to handle. When they have cooled, slip the skins off and discard them. Peel the skin off the garlic, too. Pour the tomatoes with their liquid into the colander, and let it drain for a few minutes.
Pour the tomato mixture from the colander into a bowl, add the garlic, and blend briefly with a hand blender. Add the basil and a few pinches of salt.