This thread sparked my weekend project. I had a bunch of paste tomatoes all at one time for once, with the first set of Egyptians, the largest ones too, all coming ripe at once, and the last of the first wave of Big Ray's (1) and Super Italian (two small ones) that had managed to set fruit before that late Feb frost. More are coming but it'll be a while and they are smaller.
Anyway, I left the skins on and seeds in, and cut them into chunks, added some of the cherry toms and others, mixed in some fresh thyme, salt and pepper, a few garlic cloves, and some thinly sliced onion. I covered with foil, pierced to release some steam, and slow-roasted in my small convection-toaster oven in a packed 9" square heavy-duty cake pan. After two hours at about 325F, I removed the foil, and reduced heat to about 250, and roasted for another two hours.
The resulting product had concentrated a lot of the liquid and carmelized the onions and a bit of the tomato skin. Wanting to leave it rustic, I just put everything in the food processor and pulsed. It was a wonderful red color and the flavors were very tomato-y, but it needed some seasoning.
Last night, I took some of this concentrate (somewhere between a sauce and paste consistency), and added some fresh pureed tomato and garlic, a little red cherry pepper and red pepper flakes, and lots of fresh basil, along with mroe salt and pepper and a bit of some homemade chicken stock, and heated that in a saute pan. I had it with a bit of pasta and some baked chicken. Really good! I will definitely use this method again, though I might food-mill or strain the seeds and skin out. It doesn't bother me but I know it's not as presentation-quality.
I'm trying not to eat it all in one go!
