6 whole tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
6 whole green onions
1/2 whole bell pepper
fresh herbs (rosemary, basil etc.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablspoon cornstarch*
Really this recipe is so simple, and tastes amazing. Try it once and you'll never use a canned tomato again!
First I turn my oven on to broil, and then get my pie pan out that fits 6 whole tomatoes just about perfectly.
Roughly chop the garlic, green onions, bell peppers and herbs. You don't have to get them small because they are going to be broiled and will soften up into mush.
Core out the tomatoes, then stuff the newly carved out tomatoes with your chopped up ingredients, and drizzle half the oil over top the tomatoes, .
Broil the stuffed tomatoes for about 10 - 15 minutes, or until the tomatoes are nice and tender. Don't worry if some of the garlic and onions get a little burnt, it's okay it actually adds to the flavor.
After you remove the tomatoes from the oven, coat the bottom of a skillet with the rest of the oil and add the tomatoes to the skillet. Use a mashed potato masher to mash up the tomatoes, filling and all.
In a small bowl to the side pour in the soy sauce and add the cornstarch, with a fork mix together. Add to the sauce. This will thicken up the sauce, and you'll want to cook it about another ten to twenty minutes while you cook the noodles.
You can add any other spices you like after this, but the roasting of the tomatoes adds such a robust flavor you don't need much. I also usually add in a little fresh basil here at the end as well.
*note - If you'd like you don't even have to add the cornstarch, it just makes it look a bit more like the canned sauce - for the folks you'd like to impress.
Source of recipe: My mother instilled a fear of all canned food in me, and I have searched high and low for a pasta sauce recipe that did not use canned tomatoes, or tomato paste, etc. My search turned up pitiful results, so I came up with this recipe.