A tomato is, botanically speaking, a fruit. Try telling that to anyone halfway through making a roasted tomato sauce recipe with nine of them. At that point it is very much a vegetable, and the distinction feels entirely academic.

My neighbour Rosa dropped off a bag of tomatoes one July morning. Ten large, misshapen, homegrown ones — nurtured by her husband Paco. I ate one immediately and it tasted like a tomato. Not a supermarket approximation of a tomato. An actual tomato — sweet, slightly acidic, with that particular depth that only comes from something grown properly in Andalucían sunshine and left to ripen on the plant.

Rosa and Paco's tomatoes — from garden to freezer at Casa Adora.

With the remaining nine I made a fresh roasted tomato sauce for the freezer.

This is a simple thing — and quite different from my tangy tomato sauce which I use for baked beans. Tomatoes, onion, garlic, bay leaves, olive oil, black pepper, sea salt and oregano — roasted together until everything collapses and caramelises, then blitzed into a smooth, vibrant sauce. No tins. No shortcuts. The flavour is entirely different from anything you can achieve with tinned tomatoes, and the effort involved is minimal.

Make a large batch when tomatoes are at their best and freeze in portions. Use it for pasta, thin it with stock for soup, finish it with Parmesan and basil. One sauce, multiple meals.

Roasted Tomato Sauce Recipe

(makes 3–4 portions)

• 9–10 large ripe tomatoes, halved
• 1 onion, quartered
• 4–5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 3–4 bay leaves
• A generous drizzle of olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan 180°C. Place the tomatoes cut side up in a roasting tin with the onion and garlic cloves tucked in between. Add the bay leaves, drizzle generously with olive oil and season with sea salt, black pepper and dried oregano.

Roast for 30 minutes until the tomatoes are collapsed, slightly caramelised at the edges and deeply fragrant.

Allow to cool. Squeeze the garlic from their skins and discard the bay leaves. Blitz everything together, adding a little water if needed for consistency. For a smoother, silkier result pass through a food mill.

Use immediately or freeze in portions. Finish with freshly grated Parmesan and fresh basil when serving with pasta.

Footnote: Find more recipes, like this roasted tomato sauce recipe, and food adventures here. Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef