Back To The Basics..Starting With This Sauce
This seems like a lit of work for just one batch of marinara sauce but trust me it makes a lot. Go ahead and put 2 – 3 cups of sauce in quart sized freezer bags and freeze for later. You will be so glad you did and I you can cook this in a crock pot on medium for 5-6 hours so you don’t have to have the oven on for so long.
Essential Marinara
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup finely chopped sweet onion
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 7 pounds fresh tomatoes, cored and lightly scored on bottom
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 sprigs fresh basil
Directions:
- Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or large oven-safe saucepan over medium-low. Add onion and garlic; cook 20 minutes or until translucent and tender, stirring occasionally.
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Working in batches, plunge tomatoes into water; blanch 15 seconds or until peels loosen at scored edges. Remove from water; drain. Remove peels; discard.
- Chop tomatoes.
- Add tomatoes to onion mixture.
- Stir in sugar, salt, oregano, and soy sauce. Bring mixture to a simmer.
- Place in oven; bake, uncovered, at 300°F for 6 hours. OR in a Crock Pot for 6 hours. Stir in butter.
- Stir in basil; let sauce stand 20 minutes.
Quick hack: Sub 3 (28-ounce) cans un-drained whole tomatoes, crushed, for fresh; use rest of ingredients as directed. Bake uncovered 50 minutes at 425°F.
Photo and Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light