Roasted Tomato Sauce with Turkey Sausage

Warning: This is not a quick and easy recipe. You do not want to make it on a weeknight when you get home from a long day at work. Now that we got that out the way... this is an entirely delicious pasta sauce that you DO want to make! And make it soon- before tomato season is over!! As I have said before, I was always "anti- making my own pasta sauce" because I didn't think it could be that much better. But, I have to say, it is really worth it when you have the time. This recipe is similar to the sauce I made earlier this year, but the big difference is that it uses fresh tomatoes!Ah, so good....

Roasted Tomato Sauce with Turkey Sausage (adapted from Culinary Disaster)
Ingredients:

• 3 lbs tomatoes (I used fresh Roma from our farmer's market)
• 1 red pepper
• 5 cloves garlic
• olive oil, about 2-3 Tbsp total
• 1 cup red wine (I used a pinot noir)
• 1 onion
• 1 lb spicy turkey sausage, casing removed
• pinch of rosemary, thyme, and oregano
• dash of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cut an X in the bottom of the tomatoes (just enough to break the skin).
3. Place the pepper, tomatoes, and garlic cloves on a baking sheet and rub with  1-2 Tbsp olive oil.
4. Roast for 45 minutes to an hour. If they do not look charred at this point, you may want to broil them for a few minutes. (I broiled mine on low for about 5-10 minutes at the end.)
5. Remove pan from the oven and cover with plastic wrap for 10 minutes. This will make everything easier to peel.
6. Peel tomatoes, pepper, and garlic once they are cool enough to handle. 
7. Heat a medium or large pan with about 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat.
8. Add turkey sausage to the pan, stirring to crumble. Once sausage is cooked, remove it from the pan. 
9. Add onion to the pan and saute until it softens.
10. Add the cup of wine to the pan to deglaze, scraping any browned bits from the sausage and onion with a wooden spoon. Reduce wine by half.
11. While it is reducing, blend the peeled pepper, tomatoes, and garlic. I used my wonderful stick blender, but you can use a regular blender if you don't have one. 
12. Add tomato mixture and spices (oregano, rosemary, and thyme) to the pan with the wine and onion. Raise to a simmer.
13. Add the sausage back to the pan and simmer together for about 30 minutes.