It started out as soup.
It decided it wanted to be sauce.
Tomatoes are starting to come in in many places and you maybe, just maybe, are about to have more than you can eat. If Roma’s happen to be on your list, here is a great way to put them to work that can be used in multiple dishes.
First, though, let’s talk about garlic.
Most people use garlic as an herb. Some use it as a vegetable, putting it center stage. I do both. And it’s easy to do when the garlic is roasted.
Roasting garlic mellows its flavor and brings out sweetness that is hard to detect when raw. When it’s roasted, it is also buttery soft and can be spread.
Some garlic-roasting tips:
-
Roast more than one head. You’ll find ways to use it.
-
Cut the tops off, making sure that the cloves around the outer edge also have the top removed.
-
Keep the tops – either peel and use them or throw them into a freezer bag (skin and all) for soup stock.
-
Once the garlic is roasted, squeeze the bulb from the bottom with your hands to push the cloves out of the skins or use the handle of a spoon to pop them out. They should come out very easily.
Roasted Garlic Marinara Sauce
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 6 large Roma tomatoes
- 1 head of garlic
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- Fresh pepper to taste
- Pinch of thyme leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Cut the top off the head of garlic. Place the head on a piece of foil, drizzle with a Tablespoon of olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Close foil around the garlic, leaving an opening for the steam to come out. Place in oven. Cook for about 45 minutes.
- Chop 5 of the 6 tomatoes in half. Deseed by removing the watery seed part of the tomatoes. Place cut-side down on a baking sheet or in a casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Place in oven. Cook for about 30 minutes. (The garlic and tomatoes can be cooked at the same time.)
- Meanwhile, sauté onion in 1 Tbsp of olive oil for 4 minutes. Add a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and continue cooking for another 2 minutes.
- When everything is cooked, put onions, roasted tomatoes, and roasted garlic into the blender with 1 cup of water. Puree.
- Pour puree into a soup pot. Chop remaining tomato and add it to the sauce. Add in 1 more teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and thyme. Simmer for 30 minutes.
What to do with the sauce?
1. Toss the sauce with roasted spaghetti squash, drizzle it over cooked Brussels sprouts, or use it as a base for a chicken marinara dish with sauteed bell peppers.
2. Cook cocktail meatballs and serve them in the sauce in a crock pot at your next party.
3. Add stock to it, along with a couple of tablespoons of a high-quality tomato paste and maybe a can of diced tomatoes to turn this into a soup.
4. Make a vegetable lasagna, using eggplant and zucchini slices in place of pasta.
5. Freeze the rest of the sauce so you can pull it out in the dead of winter.