Alex’s Roasted Summer Sauce
Posted by Gail | Filed under Gail Cooks!
Every now and then I come up with an idea that is simply genius. Several years ago I decided to make a roasted tomato and garlic sauce from scratch, and over the years I’ve refined it. It’s become Alex’s go-to sauce, so each summer I make a HUGE batch of it and freeze it for the less sunny months. My favorite part of this sauce is the basil. Our house loooovess basil and I grow it in pots, in the garden and on the windowsill. If you’re not a basil fan (really?) then leave it out because it doesn’t come into the mix until the very end.
I don’t blanch and skin my tomatoes, mostly because I’m a lazy cook, but also because the skin is full of fibre and once you’ve blended the sauce, you can’t tell that there are seeds and skin in the mix. Besides, I find that with the skin and seeds in, the sauce has a lot more body.
Did you know that there have been dozens and dozens of studies that show that the more tomatoes and tomato products you eat, the lower your risk of illness. Lycopene, the chemical that makes tomatoes red, is a powerful antioxidant that helps to neutralize harmful free radicals. And since cooking breaks down cell walls, releasing and concentrating carotenoids, cooked tomatoes (the whole tomato) with a small amount of fat, enables lycopene to be better absorbed.
And then there’s the basil, which contains compounds that have anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties, along with very high levels of vitamin A, vitamin K, potassium, manganese, and magnesium. Betcha didn’t know all that! And basil leaves are an excellent source of iron!
Basil has been held in high regard for centuries. In Romania, men would give basil to their loves to become officially engaged. Italian men would place a sprig of basil in their hair to win their love’s attention. And Mexican’s would keep basil in their pockets as a token of luck in having their love returned forever. It’s been estimated that there are between 50 and 150 species of basil, but not all can be used in cooking. In the summer I not only grow sweet basil, which is the best know, but also Thai basil and lemon basil.
Alex’s Roasted Summer Sauce
I make this sauce by tasting, so I’m giving you the starting point and you must use your own taste buds to make it right for you.
- 2 baskets of summer tomatoes
- 3 heads of garlic
- 6 red peppers
- A LOT of basil… handfuls and handfuls
- ½ cup olive oil
- 3 tbs sugar (or to taste)
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar
Put tomatoes in a oven proof dish and slow roast at 300 degrees for about 4 hours. (You don’t have to blanche and skin, the skin’s good for you!)
At the 2-hour mark, de-seed the red peppers and add to the roasting tomatoes. (No skinning necessary, see how easy?)
At the 3-hour mark, put the heads of garlic in to bake.
Work while the ingredients are still hot/warm. You can use a blender or a hand-held puree device to mush it all up. You’re going to blend until smooth the tomatoes, red peppers and roasted garlic. Slowly add to taste the olive oil, sugar, salt and balsamic vinegar.
When the concoction is smooth, put into freezer containers. Add 2-3 stems (yes, that much) worth of basil leaves to the containers before covering to freeze.
The warmth of the sauce means the basil infuses into the sauce without disintegrating. Depending on your love of basil, leave in when serving, or remove after thawing.
August 22, 2012 at 5:27 am
And Gail the next book you write will be a cookbook. – right? Your recipes are wonderful!
August 22, 2012 at 7:51 am
baskets of tomatoes. Would that be bushels? I loooove basil!
August 22, 2012 at 8:15 am
Put just a pinch of baking soda in to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes and make the sauce really sweet – you can reduce or eliminate the sugar this way, and it’s easier on sensitive tummies!
August 22, 2012 at 8:30 am
sounds yummy, could you do this in the crock pot you think?
August 22, 2012 at 8:44 am
This looks delicious! How many jars would this make? I am thinking I could cut the recipe in half as there are only two of us.
August 22, 2012 at 8:45 am
I love this – I never know what to do with all the tomatoes that come out of our garden, I ususally boil, skin and freeze in batches but this year I’m gonna make your sauce Gail – thank you!
August 22, 2012 at 9:00 am
I did this exact thing on the weekend. Used a whole basket, just as you do – seeds and all. I do check over the tomatoes to remove any spots, and the tops.
I use them in chili, curries, stews, tomato soups (delicious with coconut milk and lentils) and of course for pasta sauces all winter.
My five year old neice was over when I was blending eveything. I asked her to take out a calculator to add $9 (for the tomatoes) plus $6 (for the onions) and then divide by 23 (the number of large jars).
So for .65 cents each, I made as much tomato sauce as I could buy for $51.98 including tax!!!
Never too early to teach them a little Gail food math!
August 22, 2012 at 10:02 am
This post totally resonates with me! I love to cook, I love to grow veggies, and I love to enjoy those veggies well into the winter months.
My family makes jars of tomato sauce every year with bushels of tomatoes (being Italian, it’s almost a right of passage). Obviously we go through lots of tomatoes and lots of basil (we only add basil and salt to the sauce, so that way during the year we can dress it up or down however we like).
For basil lovers, I recommend making batches of pesto, which you can then freeze in ice cube trays for use over the winter months. I find that two cubes, thawed, is enough to cover half a pack of pasta.
If you’re growing lots of sage, as I am, you can also make a sage pesto. It’s a bit sharper than basil pesto, so I don’t use it with pasta, but I do use it as a spread for chicken sandwiches, or to toss with potatoes — deelish!
If you’re growing roma tomatoes, you can actually freeze the whole tomato as is — no worry about blanching or peeling. You can then thaw it, and chop it up to add to soups in the winter.
If you’re growing eggplant, I find the best method to preserve is to chop it up, salt it, blanch it for just a few minutes, then freeze. It’s best served in casseroles over the winter months. Alternatively, I make a batch of tomato sauce infused with eggplant and freeze that.
Buon appetito!
August 22, 2012 at 10:04 am
Oh! I forgot — if you’re growing parsley, you can also make a pea and parsley pesto (this is a Martha Stewart recipe), which is also very, very good
And, if you make basil pesto, you can add lots of oil to until it’s a very liquidy consistency, and drizzle on a plain, cheese and tomato sauce pizza as soon as it’s out of the oven. Trust me on that one! I had it in Genoa, and quickly replicated it once I got home. Amazing.
August 22, 2012 at 10:55 am
Thanks for this Gail, I’ve got 3 pots of basil, and I’m patiently waiting for my 4 tomato plants to start ripening!! Going to be tasty!!
August 22, 2012 at 11:30 am
Yes, Gail, we need the basket size!! The 6 quart ones that schools used to collect and make money from every fall when I was a kid? (that’s a fun memory!) 4 quarts? 2 quarts? Or those giant bushel baskets Fortino’s has in the stores now stacked to the ceiling! I’m guessing its not those because you’d never fit the tomatoes from those in the oven in one go
.
August 22, 2012 at 12:53 pm
What timing! I am going to the market in the morning – I assume by baskets you mean the oval cardboard ones with the handles that you find at the markets Gail ?
I also grew basil in the garden this year for the first time.
Can’t wait to try this!
August 22, 2012 at 6:03 pm
this sounds simply devine…gonna try it with our new garden this year..thanks Gail…we love you:)
August 22, 2012 at 7:06 pm
Thank-you, Gail! This sounds right up my alley…no blanching/peeling/seeding! I’m assuming 4- or 6-qt baskets? Roma/plum tomatoes would be awesome for this! I’ll check the Farmer’s Market next time I’m there!
August 23, 2012 at 10:54 pm
About the garlic- weird question- do you take the heads apart and remove the skin from the cloves? Or do you just throw them in as-is?
If you leave the skin on are you supposed to blend it with everything else or remove it after it’s roasted?
August 27, 2012 at 1:06 am
Yummy… I used ~5 pounds of tomatoes, 4 peppers, 3 heads of garlic. Instead of sugar, I used Agave syrup – it tastes great. Thanks for this very easy recipe.
August 27, 2012 at 9:18 am
I’m going to buy the ingredients and make a few batches today
August 28, 2012 at 10:52 am
TYVM Gail. I copied and saved in my computer. I love basil. This will save me a lot of $$$! Hubby goes to local Italian Restaurant and we buy a dozen pints of their sauce at $3 a container!
September 1, 2012 at 4:39 pm
This recipe is the BEST!!!!! I now have 10 containers of summer in my freezer.
I will had a little cream and make it a sauce rosée with pasta or a little milk and it almost is a tomato soup. I wish it had a little more body so I could make it more of a pizza sauce but mine was a little to liquid for that.
Gail, how do you use your sauce???
September 3, 2012 at 5:58 am
We usually just use it as pasta sauce and add a handful of veggies and reggiano cheese. I put this sauce on top of my goat’s cheese and sundried tomato chicken too. It’s our go-to basil tomato sauce.
September 4, 2012 at 9:48 am
Seriously impressed with the sauce. It turned out wonderfully, I roasted an onion along with the peppers. So yummy. I bagged and froze about 16 cups, and I plan to make more next week.
September 5, 2012 at 3:23 am
[...] Pour 800 ml of tomato sauce over and around the breasts. I use Alex’s Roasted Summer Sauce for this because it’s full of basil. But I’ve also used Classico’s Basil Tomato Sauce (the [...]