As many of you probably do as well, I had a large supply of ripe garden tomatoes lining my kitchen counters, waiting to be eaten. I had been meaning to make a nice marinara sauce with them to freeze for later use. But my numbers were slowly dwindling down until I didn't have quite enough to make a batch large enough to freeze. The other night, it was as though one of my favorite cooking blogs, For the Love of Cooking, was reading my mind. She mentioned making a marinara sauce for some pasta by roasting the tomatoes first. This is a wonderful idea, for it brings an amazing richness to the tomatoes, that is unlike eating them any other way. I didn't have all of the ingredients that she listed for her recipe, so I played around with what I had in my own fridge/pantry and came up with this. Scott and I really loved it and it is a sauce I will return to again and again. Thank you Pam!!
About 6-10 tomatoes, quartered (this amount is depending on the size of your tomatoes of course. I had huge garden tomatoes so I only needed about 6)
1 head of garlic, unpeeled
1 onion, halved and then sliced into large wedges
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
Dried basil, to taste
2 leeks, light green and white parts only, rinsed well and sliced into 1/2" chunks
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
2 Italian sausages, cooked then sliced into chunks
The meat from half of a roasted chicken, chopped into chunks
8 oz wide egg noodles, prepared as instructed on box
Fresh basil, chopped
Fresh Parsley, chopped
Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line your baking sheet with foil and spray with Nonstick Cooking Spray. Place all of your tomatoes, onion and the garlic on the baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and season with dried basil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 35-40 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft, juicy and have "deflated" a bit.
While waiting for your tomatoes and onion to roast, saute prepared leeks in 1 Tablespoon butter and 1 Tablespoon olive oil over medium-low heat until soft but still vibrant in color.
Remove tomatoes and onions from the oven and allow to cool slightly (you don't want to burn your fingers!) Once cooled some, carefully remove the skins of the tomatoes and discard. Many of them will probably have already slid off, and the others should slide off easily with a little assistance. Slip the garlic cloves out of their skins. Add the tomatoes, onions, garlic and all the wonderful juices to the sautéed leeks. Bring your heat up to medium/medium high and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes. Add your cooked sausage and chicken to the pot, combine well.
Add the cooked, drained pasta to your marinara and toss to coat. Garnish with chopped fresh basil, parsley and parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.
