When I glanced into my fruit bowl the other week, I noticed that we had accumulated quite a few tomatoes – all of which were at the perfect stage of ripeness for immediate use. And although I do enjoy a tomato / cheese sandwich, even I wouldn’t be able to get through this lot before they spoiled. The solution? An oven baked tomato sauce. A delicious, delicious, oven baked tomato sauce. That was so very easy to make, and made our house smell amazing! Just chop the tomatoes, and place them in an oven-proof dish with sliced carrots, onion, garlic, red wine, olive oil and fresh basil. Give it a good stir. Then bake at a low heat for 4 hours. Until your tomatoes look something like this…. Tender, sweet tomatoes and aromatic vegetables. I don’t have a food mill, so I simply pureed the whole batch – skins and all. And suddenly we had ourselves a luscious tomato sauce (that I had to stop myself from eating by the spoonful straight out of the bowl). What I particularly loved about this sauce is that you don’t need to sit by the stove stirring it. Rather, just place it in the oven on low, and get on with your day – returning hours later to find that the oven has done all the work for you! We have used this sauce in a couple of dinner since, but my favourite would have to have been the pasta dish we created. Nothing fancy, just rice fettuccine, baby bocconcini and fresh basil from our garden. Simple, yet spot on for flavour. Especially with the little salty bursts from the bocconcini. Finished with a glass of vino, and I felt like quite the Italian Nonna. Delish! What about you? Do you make your own tomato sauce?