saucy

Trying to save money = eating at home on Friday night.  I made this three cheese ravioli with roasted tomato sauce for dinner last night.  It turned out really REALLY good!  The sauce it verily easy (honestly) and so much better than your typical store-bought, comes-in-a-jar tomato sauce. So I wanted to share...I'm also planning to post the recipe for the cheese filling AND a tutorial on making your own fresh pasta.  Coming soon!

Recipe for roasted tomato sauce --

2 tbl tomato paste

2 tbl extra-virgin olive oil

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, minced

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

salt + pepper

2 lb vine-ripened tomatoes (9-12 med), cored + halved

6 garlic cloves

1 small onion, peeled + cut into 1/2 inch rounds

1 tsp red wine vinegar

granulated sugar, to taste

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Combine tomato paste, 1 tbl oil, thyme, pepper flakes, 3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper in large bowl.  Toss tomatoes, garlic and onion in tomato paste mixture until evenly coated.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a wire rack on top.  In center of rack place a 4" square of foil -- place garlic and onion on the foil square.  Then place tomatoes, cut-side down, directly on the rack.

Roast until vegetables are soft and tomato skins are well charred -- 45 to 55 min.  Remove from oven and cool 5 min.  Transfer garlic and onions to food processor and pulse untill finely chopped.  Add tomatoes, vinegar and 1 remaining tbl oil to food processor.  Pulse until broken down, but still chuncky.  To finish sauce, adjust seasoning and add sugar to taste (this will add an extra touch of sweetness -- the amount of sugar needed will depend on the ripeness of the tomatoes).

When serving the sauce -- you can adjust the consistency by adding some of the pasta cooking water.  For a chunkier sauce, serve as is.  Enjoy!