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Marinara Magic

August 15th, 2010 at 06:49 pm

Last week I blogged that I had the "problem" of too many tomatoes. One kind person suggested I make a marinara sauce.

I hate to admit it, but I had never made a marinara sauce. I'ved used tomato sauce out of the can and added stuff, but never made anything like this from scratch.

I'm happy to report that I have since been searching for a recipe that I could employ.

I was kind of worried because I don't have hours to let it simmer. Unfortunately my employer wouldn't think it was right if I came home during the day to make a sauce.

So, I wanted to find one I thought I could use. And I did. I had to adjust the measurements because I didn't have quite that many tomatoes available, but I did try it. I ran it through the food processor after it was cooked and added the fresh basil.

Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:
• Ten pounds of VERY ripe tomatoes
• Garlic
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Sugar
• Black Pepper
• Fresh Basil
• Pecorino Romano Cheese, grated
Whole Tomato Version:

The ingredients listed above.
• Chop the washed tomatoes into small cubes (to reduce the area and cooking time).
• Sautee ten or fifteen large garlic cloves in olive oil until they are dark golden.
• Add chopped tomatoes and bring to a boil, stirring constantly to avoid burning or sticking.
• Pour in an additional quarter cup of oil (or more according to taste).
• Add salt, a heavy dusting of black pepper and about three tablespoons of sugar (depending on the acidity of the tomato you can use less or no sugar).
• Lower heat to medium and cook uncovered, stirring regularly, until all fluid is thickened. THIS SHOULD NOT TAKE FOUR HOURS BUT MORE LIKE A HALF HOUR. Why people insist on torturing tomato sauce on a stove for half a day is beyond me --- we call it the "Nonna syndrome."
• Remove from heat and immediately add a large quantity of fresh chopped basil.
• Cook pasta extra al dente and drain.
• Add pasta back to pan and add five or six ladles of tomato sauce to the pasta and stir over a medium heat until sauce and pasta are thickened.
Serve each plate with an additional ladle full of sauce on top and a drizzling of fresh cold olive oil and a heaping of Pecorino Romano.

Although the measurements are exact, I kept trying it until I got it the way I wanted. I tasted it and then finally had hubby try it. He's the resident critic. He gave it a thumbs up!

Now that I've accomplished this, I have one further query: can I freeze it?

5 Responses to “Marinara Magic”

  1. baselle Says:
    1281924818

    I'm pretty sure you can freeze it before the putting in the basil stage. Since air and the frost that forms at the top is going to be your enemy, you probably would want to put a hair more olive oil on the top. You might want to experiment on this - could be that you have enough olive oil already. The oil in the sauce will probably separate and rise to the top of the container.

    I'm pretty sure that the fresh/frozen sauce could form the base of a smashing tomato soup, made by you sometime in November. Big Grin

  2. Homebody Says:
    1281960263

    Yes of course, freeze it. I have made homemade marinara only once that I used on stuffed shells with crab/shrimp and a fontina cheese sauce on top of that, marinara on the bottom. It was delicious. Why have I not made it since?

  3. LittleGopher Says:
    1281975075

    Years ago, my in-laws used to make huge pots of sauce, and freeze most of it into meal-size portions. They'd eat it over spaghetti, or use it as the base for their chili. They were both teachers, and would take the sauce out of the freezer in the morning before leaving for school, and let it defrost in the frig over the course of the day, ready for heating up for their evening meal. Those tomatoes will taste divine this fall and winter!

  4. Broken Arrow Says:
    1281984985

    Wow. Fresh marinara? I've heard about those things on TV and the internet. That's pretty cool!

  5. rob62521 Says:
    1282000922

    Thanks for the info! I will be making more and freezing it!

    BA -- too bad you don't live nearby...I'd share!

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