Roasted Tomato/Basil Pasta Sauce
If my Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce had a cousin, this would be it—the Roma Tomato & Basil edition. The big differences? I swap in Roma tomatoes straight from the garden, roast up a whole head of garlic (yes, the entire thing!), and save the fresh basil for the grand finale, blitzing it in after the tomatoes come out of the oven so it keeps that fresh basil flavor.
And here’s the part where I get to brag a little: the tomatoes, basil, and garlic all came from my backyard garden. There’s something magical about knowing the sauce on your freshly made pasts was sun-ripened and grown just a few steps away. And the best part-my tomatoes have been hanging out with basil plants all summer long, so they’ve already been soaking up the “happy basil effect.”
Ingredients
-Fresh Roma tomatoes
-1 whole head of garlic, sliced in half with skin on
-Extra virgin olive oil
2 cups fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
Note: Other herbs like thyme, rosemary or tarragon can be substituted
Method
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
Arrange the tomatoes that have been cut in half lengthwise in an even layer in your baking pan
Nestle the two halves of the whole head of garlic in with the tomatoes-cut side down and drizzle with about a ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Roast in preheated oven for 45 minute, or until the whole house smells divine
Remove from oven and let cool.
Squeeze the now beautifully roasted garlic from the skins and add the fresh basil leaves
Transfer tomatoes, garlic and basil and all the juices to a blender and blend on Med-high until smooth. An emersion blender works really well for this.
Adjust seasoning and transfer to class jars
Suggested Wine Pairings
You will want to pick a wine that can stand up to the acid in the tomatoes. A general rule is that the wine should have at least as much acidity as the food to avoid the wine tasting "flat" or lifeless. These are few I reccomend:
Red
Primitivo (aka Zinfandel), Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Sangiovese (Chianti) and Rhône Blends.
White
Dry Riesling (Eden and Clare Valley in Australia are famous for their particularly mouth-puckering examples), Sauvignon Blanc, Gavi, Albarino