Canned is Not the Only Way!

Today's lunch! I made homemade roasted tomato sauce with gnocchi. My no-brainier sides are iced coffee and toast with balsamic vinegar and olive oil (saved from my roasted veggies the other week). Here's how it happened:

First step of roasted tomato sauce is to roast the tomatoes, duh. I layed down some olive oil at the bottom of a Pyrex pan and layered 1/2 inch slices of tomatoes on top. Spices added include: salt, pepper, dried parsley, freshly chopped garlic, and dried rosemary. More olive oil drizzled on top and I let it bake until sizzling  and tender. 

Boiling gnocchi (potato dumplings) is fairly easy-drop into boiling water until gnocchi floats to the top-this is how you know they're ready.

For the sauce I turned on the heat and put butter and olive oil into a pan. Then I added freshly minced garlic. I love the smell of these three ingredients and believe it is important to let the garlic simmer in the concoction until aromatic. The next step is to add the roasted tomatoes, crushing them up and mixing them in the pan. Spices added include: dried oregano, dried basil, and paprika (no measuring used, really-let yourself try out different proportions and ALWAYS TASTE TEST while cooking). I then added some chopped enoki mushrooms for texture. Lastly added is a little extra canned tomato sauce for more substance. 

Here is the final product! I like tomato sauces over creamy sauces and roasting the tomatoes really makes a difference, it adds a texture and a taste that you can't obtain fully from merely a can of tomato sauce. 

Tonight I'll add some spicy sausage or chicken for dinner! Hope you try it!

As always-Bon appetit!