Simply Delicious Marinara Sauce

Last night I promised my biggest fan, hi mom, that I would post this recipe for her. I never write down my experiments as I do them, so I woke up early this morning to make myself some marinara sauce so & write a recipe for her. This recipe is so easy, you can do most of it before your first cup of coffee!







Simply Delicious Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

25 medium tomatoes
10 cloves of garlic
1 large onion
1/2 a cup of fresh basil leaves
butter


1) Start a large pot of water on high heat. This will be used to peel your tomatoes.

2) Roughly chop onion and garlic and brown in a big dollop of butter (use a large pot not a pan). Add the onion first, allowing it to soften and then add the garlic. You don't have to chop if fine because it will go in the blender later.

3) While the onion and garlic finish browning, start adding the tomatoes in batches to the boiling water you started in step one. Leave them in the pot for about 30 seconds, then remove and submerge in cool water (the sink works great). The skins while come right off after they cool enough to handle. Don't forget about your onion and garlic while doing this. Once they are browned just take them off heat but leave them sitting in the pot.

4) Once your tomatoes are peeled, cut them in half, hold them cut side down over a bowl and give them a squeeze. This will get rid of a lot of the extra juice and most of the seeds. It is also messing so make sure you use a deep bowl to prevent the juice from squirting out into your kitchen. After you've squeezed them, roughly chop them and throw them in the pot with the onion and garlic.



5) Bring your mixture to a boil and reduce heat. Add lots of salt and a few dashes of pepper to taste. Simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. This is a good time for clean up or a relaxing cup of coffee.









6) Add your basil then remove the sauce from heat and allow to cool slightly. In batches, using a food processor or blender, liquefy your sauce. Return to pot.



7) Simmer sauce for another 15 minutes or until it is the thickness you want.

8) Spoon sauce into jars and water bath for 15 minutes.



Notes:

-Romas are the best tomato to use for this, but any work. The benefit of Romas is they have far more meat to juice so you spend less time simmering the sauce. I made this sauce with a mix.

-If you like to drink tomato juice, just strain the seed out of the juice you squeezed and can that too!

Addition: My mom had a recommendation on what to do if you have less than a jarfull left over.

"When I can tomatoes and cook the tomatoes with onions, pepper and celery, I usually don’t have exactly the right amount to fill up quarts. Wednesday when I canned I had about 1 ½ cups of tomatoes left over so here is how I managed not to waste anything…..pour the leftovers through a strainer into a bowl, add a few dashes of Trader Joes 21 spices and let it sit a bit while cleaning up. Then pour the juice that strained out into a cup, add several ice cubes and a shot or two of your favorite vodka or gin. Stir, sit back, sip and contemplate how good that homemade chili is going to be this winter. Works wonders for a tired soul (or tired feet)."