Roasted Tomato and Olive Sauce

We often end up eating assorted spreads with crusty bread and salad for dinner.  The combination of the bold flavors of the sauces, the refreshing crunch of the salad and the soul-satisfying mouthfuls of good bread is irresistible on nights when I don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  Below I share a concoction that I developed a few weeks ago.  It falls somewhere between a condiment and a sauce.  The night I made it we had it with bread and the next day I tossed it with pasta for lunch.  Yum.


The green sauce in the background is basil pesto enlivened by some mint.  I substituted 1/3 of the basil for mint which gave a subtle twist to the always delicious basil/garlic/oil/cheese concoction.

Roasted Tomato and Olive Sauce

6 Romas or other firm tomato, diced (seeded and pulp removed if you want a drier sauce)

couple pinches of red pepper flakes
2/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives
2 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs such as basil, parsley, oregano or marjoram

Olive Oil, salt, pepper


Preheat the oven to 350F.

Toss the tomatoes with the red pepper flakes, salt to taste and a few glugs of olive oil.  Roast them for about 30 min until they just start to brown.

In a food processor combine the tomatoes, olives and herbs*.  Blend until desired thickness is achieved.  You might want to add some more olive oil if the sauce seems too dry.  You could also use sundried tomatoes, in which case you'll definitely need some oil.   

It can be served spooned over bread or tossed with spaghetti and some parmesan! 

*I might have thrown in a few cloves of garlic too.  Embarrassingly, I don't remember.