Rosie and I grow a lot of tomatoes, and this is one of our go-to tomato sauces. We can make it quite quickly, and its easy to stick into jars, and then throw in the freezer for long term storage. It's a lovely, creamy, sweet and tangy tomato sauce, that we use on pizza or pasta, and we can make it entirely from things we grow.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• tomatoes (cherry, roma, salad, whatever...)
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced.
• 1 handful of basil chopped
• 3-4 sprigs of thyme, no stalks
• Salt & pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C (Fan).

Place tomatoes on a baking tray - if they're cherry tomatoes, don't bother slicing them, if they are Roma or salad-sized tomatoes then half them, and place them face up on the tray. They will release a lot of juice through the roasting process, so if you don't have a high-sided baking tray, then you probably should use a dish of some sort so you don't lose any of the juices.

Coat the tomatoes in about half of the oil and bung them into the oven for about thirty minutes.

After about twenty minutes put the rest of the oil in a deep pan, and heat it over a medium-high heat. Once it comes up to temperature, cook the onion until it is soft - about ten minutes, or until the onion becomes translucent.

Add the garlic to the pan and cook it down for another two to four minutes.

Now take the tray of tomatoes and pour everything: tomatoes, skins, oil, juices, the lot into the pan with the onions and garlic. Give it a stir, and add the basil and thyme.

Add salt and pepper to taste - for me this is about two teaspoons of salt and a teaspoon of pepper, give it all a stir, and turn the heat down until the sauce just simmers.

Cover the pan with a lid, but leave enough of a gap to let the steam escape, and let it cook for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

After the hour, blend it all into a thick creamy sauce.