Homemade Tomato Paste

With lots of great results making slow roasted tomatoes from halved or large chunks of ripe tomatoes, I wanted to see what would happen with a puree of fresh tomatoes and slow roasting them.   The oven just brings out wonderful flavors instead of up on the stove top.

Happily it worked out just fine.   Didn't bother peeling the tomatoes since they went into the food processor and I'm always looking to shorten steps.  That ever time consuming job of peeling tomatoes is what I hate the most.  Hate it more than cleaning up.

First step was removing the tomato core.  Give a quick squeeze of the whole tomato into a bowl or garbage disposal to remove the wet seeds, then into a colander while I finished up the rest of the tomatoes.  I did halve or quarter the larger tomatoes if they needed it.

Fill about half a food processor bowl with tomato chunks, add about 2+ Tb olive oil and process until pureed.

Fill rimmed sheet pans almost full with the tomato puree, sprinkle with kosher salt, slow roast around 300'-325'.  Check often to let steam out of oven.  I didn't bother stirring as you can see by the finished pan above.

The puree will reduce down and look dry in spots.  It shouldn't burn if you have enough oil.  Too little oil and there might be burning before the evaporation gets going.

As you can see above the finished product has a nice scoop.  Not too runny or too thick.

There is no right or wrong. 

I could have kept cooking it down to concentrate the flavor into more of a traditional tomato paste.

I plan to use it like tomato paste.  It's naturally sweetened and not acidic like a fresh tomato.  I put this into small containers and flat freezer bags for future use. 

My guess, it would have to be pressure canned and not a good idea for hot water bath canning. 

Parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, ready to be chopped in food processor or by hand.

ROASTED TOMATO SPREAD

2 C  roasted tomatoes

2-3 C  fresh herbs, loosely packed whole, then chopped fine

1 C   cheese- shredded, fine dice or smooth for a creamier spread (anything you enjoy! aged cheddar, parmigiana, feta, goat, cream cheese, etc)

2 tsp    aged balsamic vinegar (start with less and taste)

salt and pepper to taste

In a medium bowl mix all ingredients, chill or divide into small containers and freeze.

Really good on thin toasted or fresh baguette, crackers, sandwiches....