Craig's Roasted Tomato Sauce

Of all the requests I've gotten over the past 8 days, the recipe for Craig LeHoullier's (the North Carolina Tomato Man) recipe for Roasted Tomato sauce is at the top of the list.. I have now made 2 big batches and I'm in love.. it's such a lovely way to use up a bumper crop of tomatoes.. we're down to picking about 3/4 of a gallon of tomatoes a day now (from 2 gallons per day over the past month), but I think I'll need to put another pot of this on tomorrow. The roma tomatoes are still in their glory and I have about 25 ripe fruits sitting on my windowsill begging to be made into this rich sauce.

Craig's Roasted Tomato Sauce:

I turned the oven to about 400 F and filled my large casserole dish with washed and quartered roma, persimmon, black krim and big rainbow tomatoes - it was filled over the top, but the tomatoes cook down. I also tossed in a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes. I added about 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic and a large finely chopped onion. That's it! I then covered the pot (as best as i could) and placed it in the oven for about 45 min. After 45 min, I removed the top so that the juices could evaporate. I left it roasting for another 1 1/2 hours or so, stirring every so often. After the tomatoes were meltingly tender and much of the liquid had evaporated, leaving a rich and beautifully coloured sauce, I took it from the oven to cool and stirred in 2 handfuls of chopped fresh basil. Once cool, I transferred it to freezer bags and put them in the deep freeze.

Enjoy!