Recipe: Roasted Cherry Tomato And Pinot Noir BBQ Sauce

For urban gardeners and food lovers, summertime means only one thing: Tomato Mania. Of course, once those glorious globes start coming into season, it's sometimes hard to decide what to do with all of them. You can, of course, can them or dry them, or make sauces, tarts, and the like. But we have another idea: BBQ sauce.

We developed this recipe for roasted cherry tomato BBQ sauce the folks at Woodbridge, but figured it'd be nice to share it here too since it's so darn good. It's hard to contemplate anything more magical than the transformation of a acidic little cherry tomato into a sweet, almost candy-like treat. It's amazing what some slow, low cook time will do to these little babies. And then turning it into a rich, savory BBQ sauce. We die.

We love to serve this sauce on sliders made with slow cooked pulled pork (this simple recipe from CHOW is our fave), but you could also go vegan and use jackfruit. Of course, if you do so, you'll need to sub the Lea & Perrins with the vegan version. Their Worcestershire contains anchovies.

Here's how it's done:

Roasted Cherry Tomato and Pinot Noir BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

For roasted tomatoes
*makes 1 ½ cups roasted cherry tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 tablespoon pepper
4 cups of cherry tomatoes
9 X 12 baking dish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat the bottom of a 9 X 12 baking dish with olive oil, then add in cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper. Use your hands or a slotted spoon to make sure the tomatoes are coated thoroughly, then place the dish in the oven. Bake for 1 hour, or until skins are shriveled and the color of the tomatoes is a deep dark red, almost brownish color. Remove from the oven and let cool.

For the sauce
*makes 1 ½ cups sauce

1 ½ cups roasted cherry tomatoes
½ cup Woodbridge pinot noir
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
3 medium garlic cloves, finely minced
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons brewed coffee
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 ½ teaspoons paprika
¼ teaspoon celery salt

In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring to make sure ingredients are incorporated. Once the mixture boils, immediately reduce to low. Allow the mixture to simmer until thick, but still liquid, about 40 minutes. Transfer the ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. Use the sauce on top of your favorite pulled pork sliders, or once cooled, store it in a Mason jar. The sauce will keep for a week if refrigerated.