How to make roast tomato sauce

• If you prefer a more refined sauce, use a stick blender or a food processor to whizz the cooked tomatoes until smooth.

• Give the sauce a Middle Eastern flavour by adding a broken cinnamon stick to the tomatoes before cooking and replacing the basil with fresh coriander.

• When choosing, look for firmish, fragrant tomatoes with an intense colour. Tomatoes still attached to the vine often have a sweeter flavour. Roast a mixture of cherry, medium, plum and vine to give a great flavoured sauce.

Roast tomato sauce

Makes about 500ml (serves 6 with pasta)

Takes 15 minutes to make, about 1 hour to roast

Use this sauce on pasta, pizzas, with roasted fish, diluted with stock or as a soup…the possibilities are endless!
Freeze: Divide the cooked, cooled sauce between freezer bags. Seal, label with the date and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight before using, or you can heat gently in a pan until bubbling, if you’re short of time.

1kg ripe medium tomatoes, halved
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp sun-dried tomato purée
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Handful fresh basil leaves, torn

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan170°C/ gas 5. Spread the tomatoes out, cut-side-up, in a large roasting tin. You may need to use 2 tins if they won’t fit in a single layer. Press the chopped garlic pieces into the tomato flesh to submerge slightly, sprinkle with sugar, salt and pepper and dot with sun-dried tomato purée. Drizzle with olive oil and roast for about 1 hour, until soft and slightly charred in places.
2. Scatter with the basil leaves, crushing the tomatoes down with a fork as you do to form a sauce. Cool and keep, covered, in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze