Got tomatoes?  Lot of tomatoes??  Well, do I have a recipe for you!  I thought I had posted this last year, but apparently not.  Right now it is tomato season here, and if you don’t want to risk your life pressure canning or are too lazy to do a hot water bath canning, then you can do it my way. 

My way is really tasty.

These are all rough estimates…as you know, this is how I cook. 😀  I made up about half a dozen pans of these last weekend to use up my CSA heirloom tomatoes and romas my Mom gave me from their garden.

Recipe:

A dozen or so tomatoes (enough to cover a jelly roll pan when quartered)
2-3 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Herbs (basil, oregano, parsley – whatever you have on hand)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Core and quarter up the tomatoes.  If the tomatoes are pretty big, cut them in 1/8ths.  Throw them in a single layer on a jelly roll pan (the low flat pan that has a lip, so the juices stay in).  They can be touching, but they need to be in a single layer.  Throw the cloves in whole and sliver up the herbs a bit.  Drizzle the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper over the top to coat and mix it up a bit.

Put in a preheated 375 degree oven for about an hour.  The tomatoes should look done and starting to shrivel up.  If there is a bunch of liquid at the bottom of the pan, I let it go a little longer.  Take it out to cool.  Put the tomatoes in a bowl and puree with an immersion blender or you can put them in a blender.  Get them nice and pureed.  I don’t put all of the liquid from the pan in, and just see how it looks.  If it looks too thick, add the liquid.  When nice and cool, put in a freezer container or freezer bag.

This should make about 2 cups of sauce, per pan.  Great with pasta in the winter!

On another note…this week we had my work’s annual “team building”event.  This involves going to an expensive cooking store, cooking expensive food and drinking copius amounts of wine.  Oh wait, maybe that was just me??  No, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only  one drinking. 😉

Well…ANYWAYS, I thought it was all cute when the chef that was assisting us was impressed that I was making the chocolate mousse all by my lonesome.  Yeah.  Remember I was the lady standing next to you that was giving pointers while you were explaining to the rest of my company how to make things I make all-the-damn-time (What a good sport…I’m sure he was totally annoyed!)??  I realize that I am no expert, but …I can fold egg whites like no body’s business. 😉