Makes About 2 Quarts
18 Large Plum Tomatoes
½ Cup XVOO. Plus More For Drizzling
1 Large Spanish Onion, Sliced
12 Garlic Cloves, Smashed
1 Teaspoon Dried Basil
1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
Pinch Dried Thyme
Pinch Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
2 Teaspoons Coarse Sea Salt
1 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
½ Cup Balsamic Vinegar
Build a small split charcoal fire. When the coals are white hot, cover the grill with the lid and bring the temperature up to 250ºF. (Maintain between 200ºF and 250ºF during the smoking process). Soak wood chips in water for 30 minutes before using. Cut the plum tomatoes in half lengthwise and remove the stem attachment. Place in a shallow foil pan and drizzle with a little XVOO. Drain the smoking chips and place several on the hot coals. Place the foil pan in the center of the split fire, cover with the grill lid and smoke the tomatoes for at least an hour or longer, maintaining the constant low heat and adding wood chips as needed. The length of time you smoke and the amount of wood chips you use will determine how smokey you want your sauce to be. (I didn’t want to overwhelm the flavor of the tomatoes so I smoked them for one hour adding a small amount of wood chips as the others burned off.)
Remove the tomatoes from the grill and set aside until you can easily handle them to remove the skins. The skin will slide off easily as long as the tomatoes are still a bit warm.
Preheat oven to 375°F with the rack in the lower third of the oven.
Heat XVOO in a large non-reactive pan (Dutch oven works well here) over medium high heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add basil, oregano, thyme, crushed pepper, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cook 2 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar and reduce by half. Add the tomatoes (do not drain any liquid). Break up the tomatoes with the edge of a metal spatula. Stir everything together and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and transfer to preheated oven and roast for 1½ to 2 hours, stirring every 20 – 30 minutes. Sauce will reduce and thicken. Using a hand-held blender, puree the sauce breaking up all the chunks of tomato, garlic and onion. Alternately, you can puree it in batches in a food processor. Transfer to a container and cool completely before refrigerating. This is the perfect sauce for freezing. Divide into plastic freezer containers and freeze up to 2 months. 