Homemade Marinara Sauce - my recipe
Here's the tomato sauce for pasta and pizza. It's not just any sauce - not really the Classic Marinara Sauce (also very good!), but a version adapted to my tastes, with small additions that make it even more wonderful and aromatic. As it's fashionable now to say, "it's My recipe" with its little secrets which you can read below. This tomato sauce is good not only for pasta and pizza, it's amazing even on bread only. For example, I use it when I cook pod beans, mixed with mushrooms or fried chicken. With seafood it's just as good.
As I said in the Marinara Tomato Sauce Recipe - it can also be kept in the freezer. Or, you can store it in airtight and dry jars, it keeps very well if there are some leftovers.
It can be made from fresh tomatoes in season (I chop them in the food processor with the peel on). It's even better when you combine them - fresh tomatoes (or tomato boullion) + canned diced tomatoes + concentrated tomato paste. You will get a much more fragrant, concentrated and tasty sauce - see the steps below and do not hesitate to try it!
Take a saucepan or a deep frying pan, place over heat, combine the olive oil and butter.
Heat until the butter melts completely.
Cut the onion into small cubes, pass the carrot through the smallest side of the grater.
Add to the pan with oil and butter, mix and cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat.
Then add the crushed or finely chopped garlic, stir and let cook for another 2 minutes.
Pour in the wine, mix and simmer for another 5 minutes.
After this time, add the fresh chopped tomatoes or the canned tomatoes.
Also, mix in the tomato paste.
Add the sugar.
Stir well. When it comes to the boil, turn the heat to low and let simmer for at least 30 minutes, maximum 45.
The cooking time is not fixed, it depends on the quality and type of tomatoes. Usually, you taste it and you can tell when it's ready.
If you can't tell by the taste, use time to guide you and the texture - it should be slightly denser. Usually, the sauce made from fresh tomatoes takes longer to cook.
The boiling process here is very important. This way the tomatoes will have less acidity and become sweeter.
So you waited for it to cook, now the sauce is practically ready - start chopping the basil quickly (here I also had fresh marjoram).
Toss the herbs in the sauce, we add salt (yes, right now, after it has dropped well and we have the correct texture).
Stir well and leave over heat for another 5 minutes, no more, so that we keep all the flavors!
This is what the ready-made sauce looks like - it's perfect in texture and color - I can't say anything about the aroma and taste...
Now it can be poured hot into dry and sterilized jars.
Or let cool completely, store in boxes and freeze. Use medium boxes, exactly as much as you need to cook a dish.
You really must make some pasta with it first - with nothing else but sauce and a little parmesan!
Then you'll know what to do with it - pizza, lasagna, eggplant and other vegetables, seafood, chicken etc.
Enjoy!
