Oven-Roasted Tomato Paste Or Puree - cooking recipe

Ingredients

4 -5 lbs ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 -5 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper
dried basil
dried oregano

Preparation

Peel tomatoes. The easiest way to do this is to drop them into a container of boiling-hot water, leave for 1 minute, then drop them into a container of ice-water - the skin slips right off). Halve them and put into a baking pan large enough to hold them in one layer.
Dribble with olive oil (the amount is arbitrary - I imagine that's about what I use), sprinkle with minced garlic, generously season with salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Give everything a stir to distribute.
Pop into 350F oven and roast for about 3 hours (this is approximate - it all depends on how thick you want your puree or paste).
When they're done, I like to mash the tomatoes into a paste because I like a more rustic texture. If you want smoother, use a processor.
I keep the puree/paste in a tupperware container, in the refrigerator, covered by a thin film of olive oil to prevent oxidization. I dig into it almost daily to provide a burst of flavour into many, many dishes like soups, stews, sauces, gravies, omelettes, etc.
This freezes well, too.