We’re in the height of tomato season, and that means it’s time for an unusual pasta sauce, Baked Tomato Sauce. This is a dish that should be made only when tomatoes are in season. If you try this dish with winter tomatoes, you will be extremely disappointed.
The sauce has a completely different flavor from stove-top tomato sauces. It’s very deeply flavored, thick, and rich. I got the idea from Marcella Hazan. However, the first time I followed her recipe, though I recognized the delicious potential for this sauce, I felt Marcella had made some serious errors, which made the sauce unpalatable for me.
The most serious was that she placed the garlic and herbs on the tomatoes from the beginning of the cooking process. By doing this, the garlic was burnt by the time the tomatoes were finished. To me, burnt garlic is one of the most unpleasant tastes I know. In addition, she neglected to core the tomatoes, which made the final processing more difficult. Also, I felt that she missed the opportunity to explore the use of more herbs. Thus I revised her recipe to suit my own tastes.
One of the nice things about this sauce is that it is so very easy to make, the only disadvantage being that you have to have a hot oven going in the heat of summer.
To Make Baked Tomato Sauce
Adjust the rack to the upper third of the oven, and preheat it to 400°. Line a baking pan with lightly oiled foil or parchment paper to avoid a very messy cleanup.
You must choose perfectly red, ripe, and sweet tomatoes that are not squishy. Wash the tomatoes, and gently remove the stem end.
Core the tomatoes.
Be careful no to cut too deeply into the tomato to avoid losing a lot of juice. Cut only until you reach the bottom of the core.
Don’t cut below the core.
Cut the tomatoes in half and place them cut side up on the prepared pan.
Sprinkle the tomatoes with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle about 1⁄4 cup of olive oil over the tomatoes, and place in the oven. Bake for about 1 1⁄2 hours.
Drizzle oil over the tomatoes.
In the meantime, mince the garlic.
Mince the garlic.
Then mince parsley, fresh oregano, and fresh basil. Mix 1⁄4 cup of olive oil into the herbs.
Remove the tomatoes from the oven and evenly spread the garlic over each half.
Sprinkle the garlic over the tomatoes.
Then spread the herb mixture evenly over the tomatoes.
Spread the herbs over the tomatoes.
Return the tomatoes to the oven, and bake about another half hour. Check to see that the skins have begun to blacken.
To Serve as a Vegetable
At this point, you can serve the tomatoes as is or allow them to come to room temperature before serving. They are very delicious served as a side dish.
The fully baked tomatoes.
To Serve as a Sauce
To turn the tomatoes into a sauce, remove them to the bowl of a food processor. If you are turned off by the skins, you can let them cool then peel them, or you can spoon the pulp out from the skins. I used to do this until I discovered that the skins are barely noticeable in the pureéd sauce. Now I find it superfluous.
Put the tomatoes in a food processor.
Add the remaining olive oil, some peperoncino (generally about 1⁄4 teaspoon), and pulse just until the tomatoes become a chunky sauce.
Pulse the tomatoes.
Serve the baked tomato sauce over pasta with fresh basil leaves.
Serve over pasta.
Any leftover baked tomato sauce can be gently reheated for future use.
