If you don’t have access to fresh tomatoes, make sure you buy San Marzano tomatoes, they are ideal for flavorful marinara.
This sauce is a staple in our house when the children were growing up. It’s really easy to make and can be used as a base for several different sauces or dishes. I would always make a batch on Sundays with the hope that it would last for at least two weeks. Now that the kids are grown up, we eat differently, but my husband has taken to buying bushels of fresh tomatoes from the Farmer’s Market in the fall and canning over a dozen quarts for use through the winter and spring.
There are a lot of recipes that call for cooking this sauce for hours, but that’s not what Italians do. I remember seeing my sister-in-law starting the sauce at 5 pm for use with dinner that evening. You only need to cook it for 45-60 min.
Use this sauce for any of these dishes:
- Baked Penne with Marinara and Besciamella
- Lasagna
- Pasta in White Clam Sauce – see recipe notes for Pasta in Red Clam Sauce
- Red and White Tortellini
Traditional Marinara Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Food mill
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 small onion
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 stalk celery
- 2 Tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 28 oz whole, canned tomatoes San Marzano
- 2 tsp salt
- 10 basil leaves fresh
Instructions
- Dice carrot, celery, and onion. Heat oil in large saucepan. Add the chopped vegetables, then the garlic. Cook over medium heat until the onions turn translucent, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the canned tomatoes, salt, pepper, and basil leaves. Use a potato masher to smash the whole tomatoes. Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook over low heat for about 45 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent burning.
- Pass the sauce in a food mill to remove the seeds and tomato skin.
- Makes about 2 qts.