Its been a fantastic summer here for tomatoes and my first year of growing them in a greenhouse has been far more successful than I had anticipated – we have so many!  There’s a limit to how many fresh tomatoes one family can eat and friends and neighbours have had their fill. Even though we are now well into autumn, the plants keep on providing. Not wanting to waste any of these delicious fruits we have been finding new ways of cooking them.

This is our favourite recipe (so far) for our glut of tomatoes. The sauce can be eaten straight away and also freezes well for a future meal.

• Slice the tomatoes in half and place them in a layer at the bottom of an oven proof pan. You can make several layers, depending on the amount of tomatoes you have and the size of your pan.

• Add several cloves of garlic to each layer, along with some chunks of butter and sprinkle salt over. If you have some fresh basil leaves, they can be added too.

• Place in oven at about 180ºC for about an hour (or longer) until they start to caramelise. It is a good idea to open the oven door occasionally to let moisture out and to give the tomatoes an occasional stir.

• When you think that they are roasted enough, remove from oven and allow to cool a little.

• Using a blender (I have a hand one) blitz the tomato mixture. If there are tough skins still present then you can pass it through a sieve to create a smooth sauce.

Note: this sauce is fairly concentrated – a little goes a long way.

• Serve over your favourite pasta with a sprinkling of cheese.

Yum.