I very nearly shouted "Eureka!" today when I pulled my tomatoes and garlic out of the oven and had a taste.

I heard last year that my favorite Italian restaurant in St. Louis (Onesto) roasted their sauces but I didn't bother trying it until today! I've been making tomato sauce from scratch for years, but always just on the stove. Roma tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic, shallots mainly. I always hated the idea of adding sugar to make it sweeter since there is so much sweetness latent in the tomatoes. I just needed to know how to access it!

Today I chopped up roma tomatoes and garlic coarsely and roasted them at 400 degrees for 45 minutes with a little salt and pepper. When they came out, they were nearly as sweet as ketchup!! Well, maybe not quite that sweet, but pretty durn sweet.

Then I put them in a pot and slow cooked the tomatoes and garlic with fresh basil. I think I could eat a giant bowl of it with grated romano-- no pasta necessary!

Woo!

Anyone else roast their tomatoes before tomato sauce time?