Fresh Marinara Sauce (It doesn’t get much easier!!!)

V, V, GF

There’s nothing better during the Summer than fresh tomatoes - in fact, tomatoes the rest of the year can be rather disappointing and tasteless. This year, my wife and I tried our hands at growing tomatoes on the back deck in containers. While we didn’t have the best of harvests, what we were able to bring in to the table, were very tasty indeed albeit small - I’m sure that copious amounts of summer rainwater didn’t help out our tomato production.

Ingredients

• 8 - 10 Medium to Large Tomatoes (I used a variety of ripe varieties - Beefsteak, San Marzano, and Rutgers) - the riper the tomatoes the better for this recipe!!!

• 1 Small Onion Diced

• 3 - 4 Cloves of Garlic Thinly Sliced

• 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• 1 Tablespoon Dried Oregano

• 1 Small Can Tomato Paste (any variety will do - but I like Cento Brand)

• 1/2 Cup Wine (I make this with whatever wine I have on hand - Red, White, or Dry Rose)

• Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

• 8 Good Sized Fresh Basil Leaves (torn into small pieces - NOTE: Don’t pick / add them to the sauce until it is almost done cooking and ready to serve)

Directions

1. Start this recipe out with your mise en place (except for the Basil as my comment points out).

2. I like to take the tomatoes and core them and give them a coarse chop. I then pop them in the blender to puree them. Take notice that I didn’t peel them and I didn’t remove the seeds - sorry purists - but I’m trying to make it easy). I like to reserve one or two of the tomatoes to add into the sauce a little later because I like my sauce a little chunky.

3. Add olive oil in a saucepan and bring it up to temperature (but not too hot). Sweat your onions over medium high flame. I like to add salt to the onions to help them sweat. When almost translucent, I add the garlic to the party. Give it a stir and continue to let them sweat but don’t overcook them and let them brown.

4. Add your pureed / blended tomatoes to the pan and mix them in with the onions and garlic. Add the Oregano, Tomato Paste, and wine and give it a stir until the Tomato Paste is thoroughly mixed with the sauce. Turn the saucepan down to a simmer and let the marinara cook down for about 20 - 30 mins.

5. At this point in time, you can go ahead and salt and pepper the sauce to taste. It’s also at this point where I like to add the reserved coarsely chopped tomatoes to the simmering sauce.

6. Continue to simmer the sauce down to cook it down to your desired thickness. Make sure you give it a peak and stir it every so often to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

7. When you’re almost ready to serve the sauce take your fresh Basil leaves and shred them with your hands into small pieces and drop them into the sauce and stir. By the way, this is a very versatile sauce and can be used by itself with pasta (see the picture above) or it can be used as a base for many other italian recipes.

Enjoy and Bon AppetIT!!!

TheITGourmet