This is my homemade tomato and vegetable sauce. But it’s not the usual sauce; instead, I bake it in the oven! It’s a tip a friend gave me a few years ago, and since then, I always prepare it this way, modifying the recipe a bit over the years.
In my opinion, baked tomato sauce has several advantages:
– you only need to wash and roughly chop the tomatoes and vegetables, place everything on the baking trays, and bake
– the aroma that the oven baking releases is unmistakable, enhancing the taste of tomatoes and vegetables
– while cooking, the tomatoes release a liquid that collects on the tray, allowing you to choose how much to add when blending everything together, thus obtaining the desired consistency without having to extend the cooking time
– the tomato liquid that collects on the tray and is not used for the sauce is perfect for preparing a delicious and tasty risotto, making this sauce preparation zero waste!
So, what do you think, will you try the baked tomato and vegetable sauce too?
Oh, I almost forgot, you can obviously add herbs to taste! I usually add rosemary, which I remove at the end of cooking, and thyme leaves, which I blend with the remaining ingredients.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation time: 25 Minutes
- Portions: approx. 9 lbs of sauce
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer
Ingredients
- 4.5 lbs San Marzano tomatoes
- 4.5 lbs oxheart tomatoes
- 2.2 lbs cherry tomatoes
- 14 oz carrots
- 7 oz leek
- 1.4 oz celery
- 14 oz onions
- 6 cloves garlic
- 6 sprigs rosemary
- 8 sprigs thyme
- to taste salt
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste basil (optional)
Steps
To prepare the homemade tomato and vegetable sauce, preheat the oven to 375°F (convection) and line 3 baking trays with parchment paper.
Wash the tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, carrots, leek, and celery. Roughly chop the tomatoes, halve the cherry tomatoes, slice the carrots and leek, and cut the celery into pieces.
Peel the onions and roughly chop them. Peel the garlic cloves and cut them in half.
Distribute all the vegetables onto the parchment-lined trays. I usually make one tray with oxheart tomatoes, one with San Marzano tomatoes, and the third with cherry tomatoes, carrots, leeks, and celery. I scatter the onions and garlic all around.
Rinse rosemary and thyme under water. Distribute the rosemary sprigs on all trays, strip thyme leaves from the sprigs, and sprinkle them over the tomatoes and vegetables.
Salt to taste and drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil. Mix the vegetables on each tray and bake at 375°F for about 1 hour.
During baking, I occasionally swap the trays among the racks to achieve even cooking. But this depends on your oven.
When the vegetables are cooked, and the tomatoes have softened and released most of their water onto the trays, remove them from the oven. Remove the rosemary sprigs.
Scoop the tomatoes and vegetables from the trays with a slotted spoon to avoid picking up too much liquid, place them in the blender, blend, and pour into a large pot. Do the same until all the tomatoes and vegetables have been blended, setting aside the water released on the tray.
Depending on your blender’s capacity, you might have to do multiple batches.
Once everything is blended and placed in a pot, mix well so that all ingredients are combined, and add the water released by the tomatoes on the tray as desired, until reaching the preferred consistency of your sauce. Set aside the leftover water for a delicious risotto!
Proceed to jar your tomato and vegetable sauce in sterile jars (lids must also be sterilized), leaving about 0.8 inches from the rim. If you like, before sealing the jars, you can add 1-2 washed basil leaves.
Once jarred, you have two options for storage: you can freeze it once cooled and defrost when needed, or if you lack freezer space and wish to store the jars in the pantry, proceed with pasteurization.
To pasteurize your jars with tomato and vegetable sauce, place them in a large pot with a clean cloth between the jars to prevent contact during boiling, which could break them. Cover with hot water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cook for 30 minutes for 250 g jars, or 35 minutes for 500 g jars.
Then, turn off the heat and let the jars cool in the pot with water.
Once cooled, remove them from the pot, dry them, check that the lids have sealed, and store them in your pantry.
