Aug 10

Aug 10 Sauce à la Kyra

Kyra loves this sauce and so it is named for her. It is thick and hearty and bursting with flavor, but comes together very fast — great for a simple weeknight vegetarian dinner. You can easily double or halve this recipe, just keep in mind crowded tomatoes on the cookie sheets will steam, not roast and get a bit mushy — not good. So if you double the recipe, consider roasting in batches. This recipe is one of the reasons you keep Little Oven Roasted Tomatoes your fridge, but in case you don't, let's start scratch.

Little Oven Roasted Tomatoes

6 - 8 pints cherry or grape tomatoes, rinsed & dried with a paper towel
4 - 6 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 - 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt

Preheat oven to 350°

Put all the tomatoes into a large colander and rinse. With a paper towel, blot the tomatoes and dry the tomatoes as best you can, a bit of water is OK. Spray 2 cookie sheets liberally with Olive Oil Pam, especially the corners or generously grease the pans with olive oil.

Divide the tomatoes on the 2 cookie sheets and distribute evenly. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle tomatoes with salt.

Gently shake the pans to coat the tomatoes.

Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven and gently toss the tomatoes on pans so they cook evenly. The corners of the pans may need special attention, as they cook faster. Switch their rack positions if one pan is browning faster than the other.

Bake until tomatoes are collapsed and browned, and any watery juice is evaporated - 20 to 30 minutes more.

Let cool on the pans for 5 or 10 minutes, then with spatula, remove tomatoes. Some will stick to the pan. If you are making sauce you can leave them on the pans while you do the next bit. (If not, when cool, put in airtight container. Keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks.)

Sauce à la Kyra

(makes 6 - 8 servings)

4 cups of Little Oven Roasted Tomatoes (or the amount from roasting 8 dry pints)

1/4 Cup of Olive Oil

1 Cup Chopped Onion

4 Cloves Minced Garlic

1 Cup Dry Red Wine, extra on hand to add or drink!

1/4 Cup Fresh Parsley, Chopped (optional)

1/4 Cup Fresh Basil, Chopped (optional)

Parmesan, of course!

let the garlic & the onions do their thing — let the garlic & the onions do their thing

Add the olive oil to a large sauce pan, 10 - 12 quarts.

Heat to medium/medium-low until the oil starts to ripple and shimmer a bit and add the onions.

Cook until the onions soften, 4 - 6 minutes, stirring to ensure they cook evenly and don't brown. Then add the garlic, toss around a little.

Continue to gently sauté until the garlic too, is soft and then add the tomatoes and the wine. Turn up the heat if necessary so the sauce is gently bubbling.

Cook another 15 or 20 minutes, gently stirring occasionally (you don't want to mash up the tomatoes too much!) until the alcohol from the wine has evaporated.

If you're eating this right away, and considering how good it smells, why wouldn't you... This is a good time to start the pasta water!

If the aroma of the steam from the sauce is still boozy, you need to cook it a bit more.

The 'sauce' should be very thick and pulpy and not pourable at all. Add more wine if needed to get the right consistency, but be sure to cook off the alcohol.

When it's done and to a consistency of your liking, spoon on to your favorite pasta, top with herbs and nice parmesan.

Enjoy!