Saving Summer

in a plastic bag ...

Oh yes, it can be done!

A few weeks ago I picked a bunch of tomatoes from our backyard and whipped up this tasty tomato sauce so that later, once our backyard is a wilderness of snow and I forget the smell of fresh tomato on the vine and how you can almost taste the sunlight in its rosy skin ...
... I will open this bag and welcome a little bit of summer into winter.

Here's how you can do it too!

Roasted Summer Tomato Sauce

2 lbs vine-ripened summer fresh tomatoes

1/4-1/3 cup olive oil

minced garlic (1 clove per 1/2 tomato)

salt+pepper

fresh basil, chopped

Cut each tomato in half (across the wide way) and place cut side up in a glass baking dish

Spread 1 clove minced garlic onto each half

Drizzle olive oil over the tomatoes

Sprinkle generously with S+P

Bake at 300 for 2 hours, basting juices every 20-30 minutes (I don't always baste)

Dump tomatoes and juice into a big bowl

Add fresh chopped basil (a handful; adjust to taste)

Either chop with two knives for a chunky sauce, or puree with a blender, immersion blender, or food processor for a smooth sauce

You don't really have to follow the recipe in regards to lbs of tomatoes -- just use a bunch and drizzle enough oil by what looks right, and same for the basil. But the above is the original recipe from here.