How to Make Fresh Marinara Sauce?

Answer 1

Tomatoes fresh from your garden can be the main ingredient of a bright, flavorful marinara sauce. You don't need special tools or skills to make a killer red sauce, either. Fresh-from-the-garden sauce is packed with vitamins and minerals. This basic sauce recipe will feed four, and makes a delicious addition when tossed with pasta, served over rice or used as an ingredient in stew or even meatloaf.

Fresh Tomato Marinara Recipe

Ingredients

2 lbs. fresh tomatoes (plum or globe)

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic (minced)

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated

Salt to taste

Directions for Fresh Homemade Marinara

Peel the tomato skins - Tomatoes have thin, rubbery skins that can be difficult to remove. You can make marinara with the tomato skins attached, but removing the skins makes for a creamier sauce. Here's a fast and easy method: Immerse rinsed tomatoes in boiling water for 60 seconds and then place them in a bowl of ice water for a few seconds. After a hot water bath and soak in cold water the peels will slide right off.

Dice the tomatoes - Remove the skins, stems and loose seeds, and then coarse chop the tomatoes. For a more professional sauce, slit tomatoes at each seed compartment and remove the seeds and gel with a small spoon.

Cook the onion and garlic - In a large saucepan or medium sized pot, heat olive oil and add chopped onion. Sautee on medium heat three to five minutes or until the onion is just starting to brown. Add garlic and cook for an additional two minutes. Avoid browning (burning) the garlic. Brown garlic has a strong, bitter taste.

Add tomatoes, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper and sugar. Cover the skillet and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 40 minutes. Remove the lid and continue cooking until the sauce thickens - probably an additional 15 to 20 minutes.

Add Parmesan cheese to the warm sauce. Stir to incorporate. (You can also serve Parmesan sauce on to completed dish.)

Serve homemade marinara sauce alone or with Italian sausage and meatballs. You'll love the consistency and fresh flavor of this simple sauce. This is one sauce you won't find on your on grocery store shelves. It's just like an Italian grandmother would make it, and that's as authentic as it gets.