Marinara Sauce

The other night, I decided to make a Marinara sauce. Well actually I had been wanting to make a batch for sometime and I also had some wonderful sweet Italian sausage that needed something to compliment it. Marinara derives from the Italian word for sailor, marinaro. Turns out the tomatoes were easy to prepare and store once cooked, so the cooks on ships adopted tomato sauce for sea worthy travel.

I chose to use Cento brand whole peeled tomatoes to make my marinara sauce. I once saw a program that documented how they are vine ripened in Italy, tender select San Marzano tomato varieties are peeled and freshly packed with fresh basil in their natural juices. You can actually taste the difference, there is so much flavor in these tomatoes.

I added sausage and meatballs to my sauce to use with mezze penne pasta, but you can use the sauce to go with other pastas and meats as well.





Ingredients
2 - Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 - large cloves Garlic
1 - 32 ounce can Cento Peeled Tomatoes
1 - 12 ounce can Cento Tomato Paste
2 - 8 Ounce cans Cento Tomato Sauce 1
/4 - cup Baby Portabella Mushrooms - optional
1 - Medium size sweet onion chopped and diced
1/4 - cup red wine
1/2 - teaspoon Dry Oregano
Fresh Basil Fresh
Parsley finely chopped

In a large pot with a good bottom, add the olive oil over a medium high heat. First add the onions and then the garlic and get them good and sweaty. When the onions caramelize a bit, add the wine, loosen up any bits on the bottom of the pot and then add the mushrooms. To this add the peeled tomatoes, paste and sauce, I use a potato masher to macerate the tomatoes into the sauce. Stir in water from the tomato sauce cans and swish the can to get all the residue from the sides. Stir sauce and let reduce until nice and thick. Add pasta's or pour over meats like chicken, veal or meatballs.

________________________________________________________________________