This Early Girl Tomato Sauce recipe is unbelievably easy to make and is perfect for lasagna. I woke up early on a Saturday in September and made the hour-long drive from Napa to Oakland where I met the farmers behind Sea Level Farm. They cultivate a variety of Early Girl Tomatoes that are dry farmed.
I pulled up to an empty parking lot and spotted the white delivery truck in front of Swan’s Market, which was not yet open for the day’s grocery shoppers. A small line of people waited behind the very truck that carried flats upon flats of fragrant dry farmed Early Girl Tomatoes. I picked up my 20 pounds that I reserved and when I asked Jane her favorite way to prepare them, she replied: “Roast them in a sheet pan. A little olive oil. Some salt. Hot oven.” I eagerly drove home to do just as she instructed.
Why You’ll Love this Early Girl Tomato Sauce Recipe for Lasagna
This tomato sauce recipe is unbelievably simple and highlights the beauty of seasonal cooking. When tomatoes are this fragrant and delicious, we honestly do not need a whole lot to craft the beginnings of a homemade marinara sauce. When it comes to California grown tomatoes, I prefer these Early Girl Tomatoes more than San Marzano tomatoes. However, you can totally replicate this cooking process to create a similar kind of tomato sauce using your favorite variety of whole tomatoes.
This sauce is also very freezer friendly. Carve a bit of extra time on a weekend to make a double batch of this delicious tomato-based sauce to have on hand for those special occasions when a fresh baked lasagna with a homemade meat sauce is just the ticket to enjoy time with your near and dear. Lastly, this sauce is versatile. You can build from this foundational homemade sauce by adding additional ingredients to make the base for your favorite recipes.
What are Dry Farmed Tomatoes?
I would be remiss if we did not discuss the practice of dry farmed tomatoes. What exactly are they? Dry farming is a practice whereby crops are grown throughout a dry season using little to no external irrigation and must rely on the moisture in the soil from the previous wet season to support growth (source: Berkeley Food Institute). A practice usually seen on the Central Coast of California, the result is a tomato that is richly fragrant and robust in flavor. These Early Girl Tomatoes are some of the best tomatoes I’ve tasted in my life thus far. They were definitely worth the hour’s long drive to pick them up. 😉
Ingredients for the Early Girl Tomato Sauce Recipe for Lasagna
This recipe will yield about 3 cups of tomato sauce which is the perfect amount to use in your traditional lasagna recipe. To craft this delicious fresh tomato sauce for our homemade lasagna recipe, we’ll need the following ingredients:
- 3 pounds Early Girl Tomatoes: The best ones for this recipe. For best results, I’d use this tomato variety if you have access to it. If not, use San Marzanos or any other whole tomato variety that works for you.
- 3 teaspoons kosher salt: We really want the flavor of the tomato to shine in this simple tomato sauce. That said, kosher salt is all we’ll need to season and draw out the flavors of the fruit. If using these dry farmed Early Girl Tomatoes, you’ll notice the difference immediately.
- 3 tablespoons olive oil: Because the ingredient list is so short this is a friendly reminder that the quality of our ingredients matters. Use the best quality olive oil you can buy. A few of my favorites include: California Olive Ranch (found in many grocery stores across the US), The Olive Press (Sonoma/Napa), and Hudson Vineyards (Napa).
How to Make This Early Girl Tomato Sauce Recipe for Lasagna
Roasting these fresh tomatoes for our easy lasagna recipe is simple to do and the cooking time is mostly hands off. Here’s how we do it:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Clean and cut tomatoes into halves and quarters. Place them on the prepared baking sheet. Season with 3 teaspoons kosher salt and drizzle with the 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Using your hands, give the tomatoes a gentle toss to coat in the salt and oil.
- Roast the tomatoes about 30-40 minutes until their juices release and skins begin to shrivel slightly. Carefully remove from oven and use a spoon to gently scoop tomatoes and their juices into a blender pitcher. Blend until smooth. Alternatively, you can use a food processor to process the roasted tomatoes. If using this in lieu of a blender, you may need to process in batches. Take care not to overfill it with the hot roasted tomatoes to avoid splatter.
- In a large pot, dutch oven, or large deep walled sauté pan fitted with a colander or strainer, pour the blended crushed tomatoes to strain out skins and seeds. Remove colander or strainer. Discard the strained tomato skins and seeds. Simmer sauce until thickened as desired, about 15-30 minutes more. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
Lasagna Prep: How to Prep and Assemble Lasagna
Recipes like this show us just how deliciously simple home cooking can be. After roasting my first batch of dry farmed Early Girl Tomatoes, I got straight to work preparing the Sunday Lasagna from it. There are a number of variations when it comes to making easy homemade lasagna. I offer one that I made after roasting these delicious tomatoes. Here’s how we prepared a simple homemade lasagna using the tomato sauce we prepared:
Preparing Lasagna Elements
- First, preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a bechamel sauce by melting 4 tablespoons unsalted butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add in 4 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and stir to combine the flour and butter to make a roux. Next, slowly add in 4 cups of whole milk. Stir continuously to allow the sauce to thicken. Once the sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon, your bechamel sauce is ready for the best lasagna you’ll make. Remove from heat and stir in a pinch of salt, a grind of black pepper, and a dash of ground nutmeg. Set the white sauce to the side, covered, and continue working on preparing the remaining parts of the lasagna.
- Next, we’ll prepare the filling. For this lasagna, I loved a quick filling made with ground beef, sauteed spinach, garlic, and caramelized onion. To prepare the filling heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over low heat. Add 1 cup of sliced or diced onions and cook until they just begin to caramelize. Add in the garlic. Stir until the garlic is just releasing its fragrance then add the ground beef. Cook ground beef until it browns. Add in the spinach and cook until spinach is wilted. Seasonal with a few pinches of kosher salt and ground black pepper. Here, you can also opt to add in your favorite Italian seasoning or some chopped fresh basil leaves. I also like to add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes for added warmth. The key here is that the filling is truly customizable to compliment the red sauce from fresh tomatoes.
Assembling Lasagna
- For this classic lasagna recipe I opt for the shortcut of using no-boil lasagna noodles. You can totally opt to cook your lasagna sheets or make a fresh sheets of pasta. That said, in using the no-boil noodles we’ll first start with ladling a couple spoonfuls of tomato sauce on the bottom of our baking dish. Reserve a couple cups of sauce and bechamel for the top of the lasagna.
- Place enough lasagna noodles to cover the bottom of your baking dish. Pour over the few ladles of bechamel to coat the top of the noodles. Top with enough filling to lightly cover the bechamel. Add a couple cups of sauce to top the filling. Add another layer of noodles then repeat the layering process until the top layer reaches the top of the pan. Pour the remaining sauce and bechamel on top. Sprinkle a bit of fresh mozzarella cheese and grated parmesan cheese over the top.
- Bake the lasagna for 30 to 40 minutes until edges are golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before garnishing with chopped fresh basil.
Final Tips and FAQ
Absolutely not! It’s a great use for it but the sauce is versatile. I find it also works well for a homemade pasta sauce tossed with your favorite cooked from dried pasta with a bit of ground Italian sausage or a mix of your favorite sautéed vegetables like green bell peppers or Jimmy Nardello peppers, onion, zucchini. This sauce also is a great recipe for a tomato soup base or even pizza sauce.
If you are wanting to make a tomato sauce without the process of roasting the tomatoes as I’ve shared here, you’ll want to opt for using canned tomatoes. Skip the roasting process all together and you can craft a classic bolognese sauce using your favorite canned tomatoes, tomato paste, and more. I’m working on recipes for tomato sauce using canned tomatoes so stay tuned for those. I share tomato sauces with fresh tomatoes because that’s what we tend to have on hand the most in summer with the summer farm CSA produce boxes we receive. This is a wonderful practice in cooking seasonally while supporting our local farmers in the process.
You can definitely freeze it! I have found the best way to do this is to allow the tomato sauce to cool completely before portioning out in freezer safe containers or these silicone ice cubes and freezing overnight. If using a silicone ice cube tray, remove the cubes from the tray and store in freezer safe bags. Whether in containers or in a bag make sure to label and date so you can track how much time passes before using them. Optimally, your tomato sauce can keep in the freezer for 6 to 12 months if stored properly.
More Tomato Based Recipes to Love
This tomato sauce for lasagna recipe is an exercise in relishing the simple pleasure that food brings, thanks to the farmers that grow such incredible ingredients. After making a few batches, I already portioned out the remaining pounds of tomatoes in freezer bags for when winter arrives and I’m craving the days of Tomato Girl Summer once more. For more tomato based recipes that use the freshest tomatoes of the season, check out a few more recipes below:
- One Pot Orzo with Fresh Corn and Tomatoes
- 30 Minute Hearty Pasta with Heirloom Tomato Sauce
- Tomato and Garlic Confit Pasta
Early Girl Tomato Sauce for Lasagna
Equipment
- 1 3 quart sauté pan to simmer sauce to thicken
- 1 Rimmed baking sheet for roasting tomatoes
Ingredients
- 3 pounds Early Girl Tomatoes
- 3 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Clean and cut tomatoes into halves and quarters. Place them on the prepared baking sheet. Season with kosher salt and drizzle with olive oil. Using your hands, give the tomatoes a gentle toss to coat in the salt and oil.
- Roast the tomatoes about 30-40 minutes until their juices release and skins begin to shrivel slightly. Carefully remove from oven and use a spoon to gently scoop tomatoes and their juices into a blender pitcher. Blend until smooth.
- In a saucepan or large deep walled sauté pan fitted with a colander or strainer, pour blended tomatoes to strain out skins and seeds. Remove colander or strainer. Simmer sauce until thickened as desired, about 15-30 minutes more. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
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