Marinara Sauce Recipe

Here it is!  My family's fourth generation Marinara sauce...or meatless spaghetti sauce, red sauce.  Whatever ya wanna call it.  I have my Nona's Bolognese recipe too but I make this sauce more often.

Basso's Marinara Sauce

½ C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 medium Vidalia onion

4 large garlic cloves finely chopped or pressed (fresh cloves are best but use 2 ½ Tbls garlic powder if you need to substitute)

2 Tbls Oregano

2 Tbls Basil

(Try to get fresh herbs and chop them yourself. The dried stuff doesn't hold its flavor very long.)

1 tsp Sea Salt (or 2 tsp of regular table salt)

½ tsp paprika

2 Tbls sugar

1 tsp black pepper

2 bay leaves (do not chop these-add them whole and then you will pull them back out once sauce is finished)

1 finely chopped celery stalk

1 finely chopped carrot

28 oz crushed tomatoes

8 oz tomato sauce

10 oz tomato puree

Asiago cheese (grated)

My Nona would also add 1 tsp of crushed red pepper seed. I don't, can't handle spicy stuff.

*If you have people who would freak out over the celery and carrot, just omit the carrot. You can substitute 1 Tbl of celery seed for the stalk. Make sure that its celery seed and not celery salt-or you'll be on salt overload! Ditto for the garlic powder. Like I said, fresh ingredients make the best sauce but sometimes they're hard to find. Fresh tomatoes make this sauce absolutely delish. Use ripe garden tomatoes or Roma tomatoes in place of the 28 oz crushed tomatoes when in season.

Saute the vidalia and onion in the olive oil over med-high heat until the onions are translucent. (about 10 minutes) Add the celery and carrots and saute it for about 10 minutes.

Dump your sauteed mixture and the rest of your ingredients into a large pot. Heat it up until its bubbling-splattering everywhere. Reduce heat to a simmer. Stir every so often to keep it from sticking. The sauce can be ready in about 2 hours. However, I prefer to simmer it all day. (8 hours or so) If you're not going to be home to “babysit” the sauce, put it in a crock-pot and let it simmer all day on low. The Asiago is a matter of taste. If your sauce seems too thin-add more grated Asiago.

Don't forget to remove your Bay leaves when sauce is finished. MANGA!