Everyday Marinara Sauce

Everyone's cooking repertoire should include a good, basic marinara sauce.  Marinara, however, is just like underwear -- your preferences are rather personal :-).  With some experimenting, I've settled on a marinara that can be served alone on pasta, form the backbone of a vegetarian lasagne, be served as a dipping sauce, or as the foundation for pizza.  I freeze it in two-cup portions, which is just right for spreading on a pizza or serving with breadsticks.

EVERYDAY MARINARA
Printable version of this recipe

Makes about 5 cups of sauce


1 small onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and pressed
1 large carrot, diced or shredded
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 T olive oil
2 (14.5 oz) cans of Italian stewed tomatoes*
1 (6 oz) can of tomato paste
1 t Italian seasoning
1/2 t aniseed
1/4 t crushed red pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
2 t brown sugar (or more, to taste -- I've used as much as 1 tablespoon)
1 T butter (optional)

*NOTE:  The stewed tomatoes are part of the recipe's "cooked all day" flavor.  I would not recommend substituting crushed or diced tomatoes or plain sauce.

DIRECTIONS

Begin by sauteing the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat, just until translucent.  Add in carrot and celery; saute until they are slightly soft.

Add tomatoes and tomato paste to the vegetable mixture.  Stir in Italian seasoning, aniseed,  crushed red pepper, salt and pepper, and parsley.  (Be aware that the crushed red pepper is for flavor; you will feel little heat with this amount.  If you'd like a little zing, increase the amount of pepper.)

Cook over low heat for an hour, stirring occasionally to ensure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot.  Taste periodically to try out the flavor; add garlic, pepper, or more Italian seasoning as needed.  The reason I like this sauce recipe is because it's so tweakable.  Adjust the flavors to suit your taste.  You may be tempted to leave out the aniseed, but I find it adds a certain "something" that helps this sauce to taste like it's cooked over a low flame for hours in some little old Italian grandma's kitchen.

If, at the one-hour point, you feel the sauce is bitter or have concerns about acid, add 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.  (Brown sugar does a better job at cutting the tartness than white.)  With 1 tablespoon, I can taste the "sweet" but it's not an unpleasant taste.  It's up to you.  The butter is optional but it adds an undertone of richness to the sauce.  Spread out amongst 5 cups of sauce -- heck, that's only a few extra calories.

Remove the sauce from the stove, and allow to cool for several minutes.  It is now time to consider "texture."  You can leave it as is for a very chunky sauce.   I process mine in a food processor because I like the carrots and celery to disappear, but want a combination of chunky + smooth for pasta.  For a perfectly smooth sauce that is great to dip or on pizza, give it a whirl in the blender.

Recipe source:  a combination of this one from Giada de Laurentis and this one from Allrecipes.  The tip about the butter?  Thank you to Mel's Kitchen Cafe.


Yes, those breadsticks do look yummy, don't they?  Check out this recipe at the King Arthur Flour blog to make your own.