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What has happened to good old fashion marinara sauce? A marinara sauce should be something you put on everything you eat, from breads to veggies. It should be just that good!!!
There are plenty of decent jarred marinara sauces out there, but nothing beats some good old fashion homemade marinara sauce. This recipe is real simple and mmm mmm good.
Start off with two can of tomato paste, one can of tomato sauce, and if you’re feeling up to it, about three medium tomatoes, if not, use one can of diced tomatoes, including the liquid. If you decide to use fresh tomatoes, you have to get the peel off of them before you cut them up. The easiest way to do that is by blanching them. Once the sauce and paste are in the pot, turn the flame on to medium high heat, mix it really well so that the tomato sauce and paste are completely mixed together, and cover it.
To blanch your tomatoes, what you want to do is bring a pot of water up to a boil. While the water is heating up, cut out the core (at the top) from each tomato and then cut an X out on the bottom, just deep enough to break the skin. That will help you peel the skin off when you're ready. Once the water is boiling, submerge the tomatoes in the water. Let them sit for about 2 - 3 minutes. After that, put them in a bowl of ice water, this will stop the cooking process. Once the tomatoes have cooled down enough, go ahead and pull the skin off with your fingers. If it's done right the skin will come right off. Then chop them up into small chunks and throw them into the pot.
Next, add some onions; one medium yellow onion and about a half of a red onion. Dice about half of the onions up really fine and the other half to about the size of my pinky nail. Then, throw that in to the pot.
Some people like to sauté the onions first, but it is not necessary.
And of course, what's a marinara sauce without fresh garlic? About 4 - 5 cloves of garlic should be good, feel free to use less if you’re not a garlic fan. And just like the onions I dice half up really fine and the rest into thin slices, and throw them into the pot as well.
By now your sauce should be fairly hot, and you should start to see small air bubbles coming up. Now add your seasons, try to keep it real simple, salt, pepper and oregano, and maybe some basil. But again, feel free to make this your own and add whatever you like.
Reduce the heat to a medium to low heat, and let that sit until you get the desired thickness you want. If you like it pretty thick, to the point where if you scoop some out with a spoon, you can almost turn the spoon upside down without it dripping. But if you like it a little liquidy, mix in about 1/4 of a cup of water. Just keep in mind, if you add more water make sure you add more seasonings.
It should take about 10 to 15 minutes to cook. Don’t walk away from it, because if it burns on the bottom it will be a pain to clean.
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