Roasted Vegetable Sauce for Pasta

If your garden is overflowing or your neighbors are begging you to take their extras, then you need to make a batch of Roasted Vegetable Sauce.

It is super easy, unbelievably delicious, yet incredibly cheap if everything is from your garden. You can use tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, onions, celery, carrots, and/or eggplant and fresh herbs. Every tray that you roast will taste different, depending on what vegetables you use. Any combination will do, but I recommend that half of what you roast is tomatoes.

This sauce freezes really well in freezer-grade reusable containers. Even if you don’t have a garden, take advantage of the local summer produce and MAKE THIS SAUCE!

Roasted Vegetable Sauce for Pasta

Ingredients

• Assorted fresh summer vegetables, cleaned and roughly chopped (You can use tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, onions, celery, carrots, and/or eggplant. Any combination will do, but I recommend that half of the tray is tomatoes)
• 3 garlic whole cloves
• a handful of fresh herbs, such as basil, oregano, thyme. If you don’t have fresh, you can use dried versions.
• olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Lay the fresh vegetables, garlic, and herbs flat on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill up the baking sheet with the vegetables.

3. Drizzle olive oil to coat all of the vegetables and herbs. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

4. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through. Carefully remove the pan from the oven because the vegetables get juicy.

One tip for roasting tomatoes: I leave the skins on the tomatoes and I just slice them in half and place them on the sheet, cut side down. After roasting, you can use tongs to peel the skins off (see below), but not necessary.

5. Allow the vegetables & herbs to cool completely. Once cool, blend in a food processor. This will take several batches to complete. Place each batch in one large bowl and stir well to combine.

6. Stir the blended tomato sauce well. You might need to add additional salt and pepper to your taste.

7. You can use the sauce immediately or freeze it in containers. One baking sheet will yield about 5 cups, depending on the number of vegetables that you have. Use the sauce with your favorite pasta dishes. My kids love it as a dip for bread.

Print recipe for Roasted Vegetable Sauce.

This post was originally published in 2013.