NO PEALING Smoked Tomato Pasta Sauce/Pizza

By nekmor

Smoked tomatoes and herbs make an easy and delicious sauce which can be used as pasta or pizza sauce OR as a base for any tomato sauce based dish

Ingredients

• 2/3 of a 10x14 foil pan of tomatoes (any variety will work I just use whater I have in the garden...usually its a mixture of enough to give me the volume I need; cut to sorta consistent sizes)
• 1 Small handful of fresh basil leaves
• 2 medium onions (large diced)
• 2 Medium/Large carrots (large sliced/diced)
• 1 Stem Fresh Rosemary (leaves removed from stem)
• 2 Stems Fresh Thyme (leave on stem, it can be removed before final step)
• 1/2 Bulb of Garlic (10-12 cloves)
• 2 TBS Italian Seaoning
• Fruit woods/pellets or one of the "master blends" that use lesser amounts of strong (hickory etc) woods

Details

Level of difficulty Easy
Cost Budget Friendly

Preparation

Step 1

In a 10x14 disposable aluminum baking pan place all ingredients, mixed well

Step 2

Place in smoker at 325f for 3 hours +/- stirring every 30-45 minutes.

Step 3

After 3 hours if MOST of the liquid has been rendered (maybe 1/2" left in bottom of pan) there are 2 choices.

You can leave the tomatoes in the smoker to render the balance of the liquid (leaving enough left to create a sauce of your desired consistency) OR to accelerate the process you can place the mixture in a pot and "cook it down" on the stove top.

Step 4

When tomatoes and herbs are "cooked down" to minimal liquid remove from heat source and remove any stems remaining from the herbs.

Step 5

with food processor or immersion blender fully blend ingredients to create the sauce. Let it cool, bag it and freeze it for later :-)