Market Report

Amelia Saltsman is the author of The Santa Monica Farmers Market Cookbook. She's making a roasted tomato sauce. Roughly chop the tomatoes and onions and add to a roasting pan with whole cloves of garlic.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

This recipe is easily doubled or tripled. Use a larger pan and allow a little more roasting time.

2 1/2 pounds flavorful tomatoes, such as roma, Early Girl, Celebrity, or Costoluto Genovese

1 large onion, chopped

4 whole cloves garlic, peeled

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

Several sprigs thyme

Kosher or sea salt

Generous pinch of red pepper flakes

1 to 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Core tomatoes, cut into pieces. Don’t worry too much about the size; anywhere from quartered to 1-inch cubes is fine. Toss tomatoes, onion, garlic, thyme sprigs, and vinegar, if using, into roasting pan. Toss with olive oil, salt, and red pepper flakes.

Roast, uncovered, until tomatoes have broken down and thickened and onions are tender, 40 to 50 minutes. You should also see some nice browning around the edges of the pan. Use the back of a large spoon to mash the tomatoes and garlic. If sauce seems too thick, add a little water, stock, wine, or what have you, and stir, scraping up any brown bits. If sauce is too sweet, add a little vinegar, salt, or more red pepper.

Toss sauce with pasta, incorporating a little of the pasta cooking water. Or, to make a nice tomato soup, stir in 3 to 4 cups stock into the tomato mixture and heat. You can puree the soup if you like; just be sure to remove the thyme sprigs first.

Makes enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta or 6 servings soup.

© 2010, Amelia Saltsman

Ed Munak farms in Paso Robles. He has many varieties of heirloom tomatoes and melons. He has many heirloom melon varieties in green and orange flesh. The cool nights allow for a very sweet melon.

Candy Rodarte and her family own Mike & Sons, a chicken farm in Ontario. They sell California raised eggs including the pullet eggs. The pullets are 18-19 weeks old and their eggs are small but packed with nutrients. The larger the egg, the older the chicken.

Music Break: Italian Dry Ice (instrumental) by Josh Rouse