Marinara Sauce

A classic Marinara sauce recipe can be used for everything. It's the perfect base for baked pasta recipes or just pour it over a bowl of spaghetti with a grated parmigiano on top.

I use two 28oz cans of San Marazano canned crushed tomatoes for this recipe. When I make a Marinara, I like to use crushed tomatoes rather then puree or whole tomatoes because of the texture. Having a few small pieces of tomato in the sauce is part of the difference between a pomodoro sauce, which is a little thicker and has a smoother consistency than a marinara sauce.

So if you cannot find the San Marazano already crushed, you can simply take a potato basher or masher and crush the tomatoes yourself -- directly into the pot you're cooking the marinara sauce.  Mash the tomatoes to the consistency you like.

Ingredients:
1/2  cup of olive oil
4 cloves of garlic crushed
4 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
and
10-12 fresh basil leaves torn or coarsely chopped
a splash of white wine - I use extra dry Vermouth

Directions:
Coat the pan with the olive oil and heat on medium. Then add the sliced garlic to the oil and stir until translucent and tender.  See how the garlic is becoming tender and golden brown?  Now add the crushed garlic and stir a couple of minutes. Splash with the Vermouth!

Pour in the san marzano tomatoes and the rest of the olive oil.  Stir together and simmer uncovered for about 15 to 20 minutes.

In 20 minutes you should see how the sauce has evaporated to about half. When the sauce is ready remove from the heat and stir in the freshly chopped basil.

It's very customary to put the freshly made pasta into the pan with the sauce and saute, or you can spoon a little over some pasta for yourself with grated parmigiano cheese.

If you need to make a lot of sauce, follow below:

1 #10 tin Canned tomatoes -- (#10 tin is a food wholesale industry term) - purchase at Costco, Sam's
8 cloves of garlic finely sliced
8 cloves of crushed garlic
20 basil leaves, sliced
1 cup of olive oil
Salt to taste

You basically repeat all the steps listed above for the smaller batch of marinara sauce except each step will take a little longer because of the volume of sauce you're making.

Open the can of Nina San Marzano tomatoes, which can be a little awkward since the can is very large. Be careful with the lid. It's sharp. Pour the tomatoes into a large pot; mash a few times with your potato masher and set aside.

Slice the garlic.  Now you'll need a fairly large saute pan. Heat about ¼ cup of the olive oil in the pan on medium and then add the sliced garlic. Saute until golden brown.  Add the crushed garlic, splash with some white wine, if desired, and saute a little longer.

Remove the saute pan from the heat and pour the garlic mixture into the large pot with the tomatoes. Pour in the remaining olive oil and salt.  Simmer uncovered for approximately 35 to 45 minutes.

There is a common misconception that one should cook the family recipe for pasta sauce "all day". Not this marinara sauce recipe!

When the sauce has reduced to the thickness you like, remove from heat and add the freshly cut basil.