Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce with Beef Meatballs

A recent love affair of mine began after I got married. It's a love affair with the kitchen. In my post collegiate life, baking and cooking offers me a challenge and the product of my labor is delicious. For my first post, I tried my hand at a recipe by Martha Stewart and perfected by my sister in law: roasted tomato sauce with handmade beef meatballs.

• 3 pounds tomatoes (beefsteak or plum, I also opted to use traditional vine riped)

• 1 medium onion, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick

• 4 cloves garlic, peeled

• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• Coarse salt and ground pepper

Core and half the tomatoes and spread over a pan. Add onion, garlic, salt and pepper, and thyme.

 Bake in the oven at 425 until the tomato skins are brown. Pull off the tomato skins and put the entire pan's contents (juices and all) into a blender and puree. The resulting sauce will be an orange shade but will have a smoky, delicious flavor. My sister in law's version had some more spice so I will have to play around with it but for a first attempt I was happy with the results. 

 

Next I made the meatballs. I made fresh breadcrumbs by chopping up bread in a food processor and added this to a large bowl. I added 1/3 cup water to the crumbs and mixed in a pound ground beef, 2 cloves garlic, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 3/4 teaspoon oregano, 1 slightly beaten egg, and mixed with my hands. I used a deep, stock pot to cook the meatballs. It wasn't the best idea because I couldn't easily turn the balls and I suspect a skillet would work just as well. The recipe called for 1 teaspoon olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan but I used more because my meatballs started to burn. I cooked them for about 7 minutes on each size before putting half in my half and storing the other half for another meal.

My final product was pretty good but I would like to add some more zest to the sauce next time. If you're looking for an easy, alternative to store bought canned pasta sauce. I'm not snobby about using canned sauce but its fun to try new things!