My thirteen tomato plants provided me with a huge bumper crop this summer.  I always thought it was somewhat silly to make tomato sauce until I tried this recipe.  My Mom sent me this recipe for tomato sauce from a cookbook - sorry, I’m not sure which one - and I think roasting the tomatoes makes all the difference . You can freeze the sauce or process them in jars using standard canning techniques. I found that my onions and tomatoes were sweet enough so that I didn’t have to add any sugar.

The recipe suggested creating variations by adding any of the following ingredients after it’s been roasting for about 50 minutes:

1/4 cup drained capers
1/2 cup pitted black and/or green olives
2 to 3 Tbls. tapenade
1 cup sauteed or raw mushrooms
1 cup of any chopped raw or cooked vegetables
Red chile flakes or hot pepper sauce

Roasted Tomato Sauce

Makes about 10 cups

15 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
8 pounds ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered
10 medium onions, quartered
1 cup chopped fresh herbs
About 1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt or to taste
Generous grinding of black pepper
3 or 4 Tbls. sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

In a large roasting pan, toss together all of the ingredients except the sugar. Roast for 25 minutes. Gently stir the vegetables. Roast for another 25 minutes and gently toss. Roast for another 45 minutes, or until the tomatoes are softened and somewhat broken down into a sauce, with a golden brown crust on top. Remove from the oven and taste for seasoning. Adjust to taste.