Pasta With End Of Harvest Roasted Green Tomato Sauce

Summer has now come and gone, and I am sad to say that after a great start at the beginning of the season, our vegetable garden dwindled down to nothing after getting too much rain. It seems that just a month ago I was complaining about having too many ripe, red tomatoes in my kitchen, and then one day they simply stopped ripening, and our tomato harvest was over.

When we went in to pull the last of the tomato plants, I found myself with a bowl full of oddly shaped, different sized green and slightly green tomatoes. Since these tomatoes were not large enough to slice, bread and fry, I had to find another purpose for them. I have made green tomato pasta sauce in the past, so I decided to do so again, but this time I planned on roasting my tomatoes in the oven.

This sauce is a very simple one to make as it involves using leftover garden tomatoes, olive oil, an onion and garlic, all thrown together in a pot. You then allow the oven to do all the work for you, roasting the ingredients and melding the flavors to create a delicious, unique tasting sauce that has just a little tang to it.

You can mix in some ripe red tomatoes if you want to mellow the flavor, or simply use all green ones. This sauce is seasoned simply with salt, pepper, chili flakes, and fresh basil which allows the tomato flavor to shine. If you find your sauce a little too sour, you can add a tablespoon or two of sugar, but I found I like this sauce just the way it was.

I served my sauce on whole grain penne pasta (we prefer the Benedetto Cavalieri brand), but this sauce would work on just about any pasta type. If you wanted to, you could blend the sauce once it has been cooked to create a smoother texture, but I prefer a chunkier texture myself.

Buon Appetito!
Deborah Mele 

End Of Harvest Roasted Green Tomato Sauce

End Of Harvest Roasted Green Tomato Sauce

Yield: Serves 4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

A unique pasta sauce that uses up those end of season green tomatoes.

Ingredients

  • 4 Pounds Fresh Green Tomatoes, Coarsely Chopped (See Notes Above)
  • 1 Small Onion, Peeled & Chopped
  • 3 Garlic Cloves, Peeled & Minced
  • 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Salt & Pepper To Taste
  • Red Chili Flakes To Taste
  • 10 Fresh Basil Leaves, Finely Chopped
  • 3/4 Pound Pasta of Choice

To Serve:

  • Fresh Baby Basil Leaves
  • Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese
  • 1/4 Cup Lightly Toasted Pine Nuts

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. In heavy Dutch oven or oven-proof casserole dish, place the tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, and olive oil and stir.
  3. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.
  4. Place in oven and roast for 1 hour uncovered, stirring once.
  5. Check the sauce, stir well, and cook until it has thickened, about another 30 to 45 minutes.
  6. Cook the pasta in a large pot of lightly salted water until it is “al dente”.
  7. Drain the pasta, and add a large scoop of the sauce.
  8. Mix well over high heat for a minute or two.
  9. Serve in individual bowls with an additional scoop of sauce on top.
  10. Sprinkle the pine nuts and basil leaves, and offer the grated cheese at the table.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1 cup
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 454Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 7mgSodium: 237mgCarbohydrates: 53gFiber: 7gSugar: 20gProtein: 14g

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12 Comments

  1. I thought this recipe was more than wonderful. My only regret is I found it when I had only enough green tomatoes left to make two batches. I sure did save it for next year. I will be making lots of batches and freezing them. I did add the sugar and some red tomatoes…..

  2. My husaband made this sauce in the autumm, and we froze it . Tonnight we had it with a sprinkling of blue cheese……It was awesome! I’m glad to say, there is lots more in our freezer!
    Thank you for the recipe. Annie

  3. Just made this with the last of my tomatoe crop. Outstanding! I used a mix of Roma, heirloom and regular tomatoes, and did not add sugar.  Thanks for a great, simple recipe. 

  4. This will be my 3rd year making this sauce, mostly because it is incredible! Doesn’t matter what kind of tomatoes I use, it turns out perfectly every time. I freeze containers of it as well so we have a little taste of fall in the middle of winter’s deep freeze. Thank you so much for publishing it!

  5. Just made this wonderful sauce with a combo of green and almost red tomatoes. It’s so tasty! Half will go into the freezer for a winter January treat.

    Question, though: The recipe lists basil twice in the ingredients list, but the directions only say to use the baby basil when serving. Are the chopped leaves to go into the sauce while it is in the oven? And if making the sauce for freezing, isn’t it better to omit the basil since it would turn black in the freezer?

    Again, thanks for a great recipe. Pandemic cooking has us seeking recipes to use up all our fresh garden produce and this one is a winner.

  6. I didn’t know what to do with all the green tomatoes I froze this year. Then, I found your recipe! I put a bag of chopped green cherry tomatoes on a baking sheet and cooked them as you suggested in a 400 degree oven, adding some dried basil and olive oil , red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper. Mixed with some pesto and grated Parmesan when they came out of the oven, they were amazing. Now, I know how to cook all my frozen tomatoes. Thanks!

  7. We had a good amount of green tomatoes that we just harvested from our garden. I used this recipe for the first time today and it was absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing!

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