Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce

I have lots of tomatoes growing in my garden right now and they seem to be ready to harvest all at once. Here's a really easy and delicious way to use a bunch of tomatoes. Oven roasting brings out the sweetness of the tomatoes and onion. You can freeze the leftover sauce to use in a lasagna or a pot of chili.

If you don't have garden tomatoes, this recipe is great with store bought plum tomatoes. 

Cut tomatoes in half and put them in a shallow roasting pan. I use a glass, ceramic or enamel pan for this sauce and avoid metal.

Slice a sweet onion or shallot and add it to the pan. Smash open a few cloves of garlic, no need to chop or peel.

Drizzle about 1/4 cup olive oil over the tomatoes, garlic & onions and toss the whole thing with salt and pepper.

Bake at 350 till bubbly. Squeeze the garlic from the peels.

Serve over pasta with fresh basil and cheese.

Margarita Chicken

Ask your butcher to butterfly a whole chicken for grilling if you aren't sure how to do it yourself. It comes out very juicy this way, especially if you brine it for a few hours before grilling. Basically he took the backbone out and flattened it open.

For the Margarita brine: 2 cups water with 1/2 cup salt, juice of 1 lemon, 1 lime, 1 orange, 1/4 cup olive oil, a shot of Tequila, 2 giant garlic cloves, use more if your garlic is small.  I added salt and pepper and paprika, also a bit of ancho chili powder.  Then added ice and poured it over the chicken in a large bowl. I let it sit in the fridge for the rest of the afternoon, about 2 -4 hours. 

While the chicken marinades you can make a doctored up BBQ sauce. I used Trader Joes sauce and added an additional shot of tequila, ketchup, molasses and fresh crushed garlic. You can use the Joes sauce straight out of the bottle if you don't feel like messing with it. It's pretty great as is.

Once it's time to start the grill, use a full chimney tower full of coals, and then add more to the grill after you dump them in. About another tower full should do it. It's good to do it at the beginning or you'll end up having to add more as the chicken cooks.

Separate the coals into two piles on the grill so that you cook this over indirect heat. I started the chicken skin side down for a few minutes and then once I carefull flipped it,  left it skin side up for the rest of the time. Keep the grill closed as much as possible and baste with the sauce at the last 20 minutes or so. Cook until the thickest part reads 160 on an instant read thermometer. 

It took over and hour for it to reach 160. But that's because I didn't have enough coals at the beginning. Live and learn. 

Linguini with Simple Bolognese

I made this for my hubby the other day and he said that the flavor was very "even". "No one element is taking over the whole dish." I agree. I used to think that if one garlic clove was good, 10 would be even better.  Now I'm learning a bit of restraint.

This recipe calls for only a few basic ingredients, so it's quick to prepare.

The simplicity of this recipe lets the tomato and grass fed beef flavors really stand out. If you haven't cooked with grass fed beef yet, it's worth the extra couple bucks. It tastes great, like the beef you had when you were a kid.

Brown 1 lb grass fed, organic beef in a skillet over medium high heat. Season with salt and pepper. The carmelization of the meat gives this sauce a lot of flavor.

Drain off the fat by dumping the browned meat in a colander over the sink. Don't let your husband see you do this. Place the same pan back on the stove, do not rinse or wash it.

Chop 1 small onion and add it to the same skillet you cooked the meat in. The little brown bits that are stuck to the pan will add flavor to the sauce. Let the onion saute for a few minutes till it becomes translucent. Add 3 chopped cloves of garlic and 1 large can organic whole peeled tomatoes, (blended) or the same amount of tomato sauce. 

Add the drained meat back to the pan.

Add 1/2 cup red wine, 1/2 tsp organic sugar and a sprinkle of dry basil. Season with salt and pepper.

Let simmer for about 10 minutes.

Serve over pasta with parmesan cheese.

YUM!