If your tomato sauce often lacks a depth of flavour, chefs recommend trying one easy cooking method instead. Many recipes suggest frying the tomatoes, but this doesn’t always bring out their sweet flavours. Others call for you to boil tomatoes and then remove the skins, but that can be really time consuming.
So this easy cooking method brings out all the flavour without any special ingredients, just requiring olive oil, salt and pepper, and of course fresh tomatoes. According to chef Deanna at Homestead and Chill, this method “adds an incredible depth of sweet and savoury flavors, and also helps to naturally thicken the sauce.”
It is also the perfect way to use up the end of your season’s produce so none of it goes to waste, because you can freeze the sauce to keep using it throughout the year.
According to the Science of Cooking, when foods are exposed to high dry heat, such as roasting, a chemical reaction occurs as the water evaporates, and natural sugars break down to produce the caramel flavours.
That means oven-roasted tomatoes can have a sweet, nutty and toasted flavour, and even hints of butterscotch, compared to the fresher or even slightly bitter flavour of raw tomatoes.
So, instead of throwing the tomatoes in a pan, the home chef recommends roasting the tomatoes to bring out the sweeter flavours.
All you have to do is roast the tomatoes in the oven at 220C for approximately 40 to 45 minutes, until they become soft and lightly browned, or slightly blackened depending on your preference.
Because the sauce relies on basic ingredients, it can be adapted to many dishes from different cuisines, like Italian pastas, Indian curries, or vegetable soups, and Irish stews.
You could try adding garlic, onion, or specific spices and herbs to match the flavour profile of your desired cuisine.