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?
Marinara Magic
August 15th, 2010 at 06:49 pm
August 16th, 2010 at 03:13 am 1281924818
I'm pretty sure that the fresh/frozen sauce could form the base of a smashing tomato soup, made by you sometime in November.
August 16th, 2010 at 01:04 pm 1281960263
August 16th, 2010 at 05:11 pm 1281975075
August 16th, 2010 at 07:56 pm 1281984985
August 17th, 2010 at 12:22 am 1282000922
BA -- too bad you don't live nearby...I'd share!