Homemade Pasta Sauce.

This afternoon, I planned on making a German Chocolate Cake. Oh, bliss! My Favorite! I changed my mind when I saw the weather forecast, they were calling for sunny and hot today, but miserable tomorrow. So, I slid today's idea through to tomorrow, and dug out my trusty crock-pot for cooler cooking.

My cooking path did not go directly to Pasta sauce, it actually started out with roasted garlic. I had one and a half heads in the fridge, and roasted garlic was something I had always wanted to try. I did a quick search, and the general consensus was to peel most of the outside, cut off a bit of the top, drizzle with oil, cover with foil, and bake at 350 F for at least 30 minutes. So this is what I did.

One site suggested using a muffin tin to stand them in. The half head kept tipping, so I decided to use this tip. The above is before baking for about 45 minutes and below is after, when my house smelled divine!

So now that it is roasted, what to do with it? I decided I wanted to make pasta sauce. I was going to cook it on the stove-top, but I had been invited out to the Fair and had to leave in an hour, that was kind of pushing it. Into the crock-pot went a can of crushed tomatoes, one of chopped tomatoes, a small can of tomato paste and some spices. I used about 1/2 tsp of Italian spice and 1 tsp of each Parsley and Oregano.

I had a hard time getting the garlic out of its paper, maybe I should have baked it a bit longer. According to all the Food Network stars that I have seen making roasted garlic, all you should have to do is squeeze it out. I used a butter knife to slip each clove out of its wrapper and just dropped them into the vat of tomatoes.

After six hours out, I came home to a house smelling even more delicious than it had when I left! The sauce was still a bit lumpy from the tomatoes and garlic, so I threw it into the blender fro a moment. I was left with a large tub of garlicky yumminess!

In the morning when it cools down completely I will put it into some jars for safekeeping. I can't wait to try it with a plate of pasta tomorrow for dinner!

When I got home from the fair, I also discovered I had an email for a very large order of meals from my Kijiji ad. Since I am going home Sunday for Father's Day and my Mom's Birthday, and the customer wants the order Monday, I may not have time to make my German chocolate cake tomorrow. :-(  There is always next week, though. I start my new job Monday, i work nine to five the first week for training, so I will still have five evenings to bake!

Have a good weekend, everyone!