Roasted Tomato Pasta Sauce (with Meatballs and Zoodles)

I have a lot of big ripe tomatoes in my garden so I decided to make this veggie-rich homemade pasta sauce.  I used some of it to serve with zoodles and meatballs and froze the remainder for another night.  The sauce was much thicker until I put the zucchini noodles in the pot and then they released a lot of water into the sauce and thinned it out.  I should have cooked the zucchini separately.  It was still really delicious.  

Homemade Roasted Tomato Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:

6 beefsteak tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large yellow onion

1 green pepper, seeded and minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup beef or chicken stock

1/4 cup fresh chopped basil

1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary 

1 tablespoon fresh chopped oregano 

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons tomato paste

Directions:

Cut the tomatoes in half and place cut-side down on a lined baking sheet.   Roast at 450º for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and use a tongs to peel off tomato skins.

While the tomatoes are roasting, heat olive oil in a large stock pot and cook the onions and peppers until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and stir for a minute.    Pour in the wine, stock, and herbs, and stir well.  Cook over medium heat until the liquid has reduced by half.

Add the roasted tomatoes to the pot, stirring and mashing up any really big chunks.  Stir in the tomato paste.   Simmer over low heat for 2 hours.  Use a handheld immersion blender to blend the sauce for a few seconds to get a less chunky sauce (this worked out wonderfully for me).

Serve with pasta or zoodles.