Marinara in Minutes

Today's post will give you a recipe for a quick Marinara Sauce. It is so easy to make, the total cooking time is about 35 - 45 minutes. Why buy a jar of sauce, when you can whip up one batch of this, have dinner, and freeze what's left for another meal?

This recipe was my mother's recipe. This is your basic marinara sauce. It can be used to make Veal or Chicken Parmigiana, or served by itself with pasta. It's especially good with long macaroni (spaghetti, angel hair, linguini) It has been handed down from generation to generation. This is not the sauce used with Eggplant Parmigiana (that sauce is made with onions) or with Mussels Marinara.

This is a good sauce if you need to make a quick dinner, or if you get unexpected company and you have to feed a lot of people. (When making pasta, figure 4 people to a pound). Freeze the leftovers for another meal.

It is so versatile, you can add black olives, mushrooms, really anything you like to it. I usually make it with nothing added, but today, I added black olives. I actually used it for Chicken Parmigiana, but normally, when doing the Parmigiana, I leave out the olives. If I am using the sauce to make something Parmigiana, I usually use the crushed tomatoes, as mozzarella gives off a lot of water when cooked, and it may make your sauce thinner. You want the sauce to be a little thicker to prevent this from happening.


AVELLA'S MARINARA SAUCE
Katherine Avella

4 (1 pound 12 ounce) cans of Italian plum tomatoes or crushed tomatoes or you can mix them
2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce (use either Hunts, Del Monte, Contadina or Cora)
7-9 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
¼ cup olive oil or vegetable oil
½ teaspoon black pepper
1½ tablespoons salt
1½ - 2 tablespoons dried basil
1-2 (2.25 ounce) cans of black olives, drained (optional) don’t use if making sauce for Parmigiana


Before starting the sauce, peel and crush the garlic and put in a little dish. Open all the cans of tomatoes and put each can of plum tomatoes, including the liquid (omit this step if using crushed tomatoes) into a blender turn on and off quickly to liquefy the tomatoes, and place each back in its own can. Place the oil in a large pot. Heat the oil and add the garlic stirring rapidly. As soon as it starts to sizzle quickly add the rest of the tomatoes so the garlic won't burn. Add about ½ can of water to the 8 ounce can of tomato sauce and pour from can to can to get all remaining tomato that is stuck to the cans from all 6 cans. Add that water to the sauce. Add the rest of the seasonings to the sauce. Bring to a boil stirring frequently. Then lower to a simmer for about 35 minutes to an hour. Sauce will change color from orange to red as it cooks. You can cook uncovered for about 35 minutes and then you may want to cover it so it does not get too thick. You can also add a can of sliced and pitted drained black olives or mushrooms, if you'd like.

This is what you will need for the sauce:


4 (1 pound 12 ounce) cans of Italian plum tomatoes or crushed tomatoes or you can mix them
2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce (use either Hunts, Del Monte, Contadina or Cora)
7-9 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
¼ cup olive oil or vegetable oil
½ teaspoon black pepper
1½ tablespoons salt
1½ - 2 tablespoons dried basil
1-2 (2.25 ounce) cans of black olives, drained (optional) don’t use if making sauce for Parmigiana

Before starting the sauce,
peel and crush the garlic and put in a little dish


Open all the tomatoes


and put each can of plum tomatoes (omit this step if using crushed tomatoes)
into a blender turn on and off quickly to liquefy the tomatoes,
and place each back in its own can.

Place the oil in a large pot (8 quart)


Just enough to cover the bottom



Heat the oil
and add the garlic stirring rapidly


As soon as it starts to sizzle


quickly add the tomatoes
so the garlic won't burn



Add about ½ can of water to the empty can of tomato sauce
(I didn't have any 8 ounce cans so I used one 15 ounce can
of the Hunt's Tomato Sauce)
and pour from can to can to get all remaining tomato
that is stuck to the cans from all 5 - 6 cans


Add that water to the sauce

Add the pepper


Salt



and Basil to the sauce



Bring to a boil stirring frequently
Then lower to a simmer for about 35 minutes to an hour.
Sauce will change color from orange to red as it cooks.
You can cook uncovered for about 35 minutes
and then you may want to cover it so it
does not get too thick

If you are adding the black olives,
drain the liquid from the olives



Add the cans of sliced and pitted, drained
black olives or mushrooms, about 10 minutes
before serving just to warm them up,
stir to blend the olives into the sauce



If you are planning to serve the sauce with spaghetti
cook the spaghetti according to package directions
drain well

Place about three ladles of the sauce in the
bottom of a deep bowl

Add the drained spaghetti


Top with another 3-4 ladles of sauce
and grating cheese and using tongs
mix well

Top with some more sauce and grating cheese


Serve extra sauce and cheese on the table