Dawn's Awesome Marinara Sauce

That's right, I named this DAWN'S Awesome Marinara Sauce because it's MY recipe. I wrote it. Are you impressed? Well, I am! Wait, does this make me a cookbook author now?? I think it does. Remind me to add that to my resume' later.

Okay, one of the many things that I love is pasta with red sauce! I love it, I can’t get enough of it, but I had never made it from scratch until recently. The jar was always my friend. I know, I should be ashamed, but I’m not! My husband’s Aunt Joanne makes the best homemade sauce. When she comes down for a visit she and her sister, Sue (my mother-in-law) cook lots of sauce and jar it with her delicious meat balls so we all have lots in the freezer. Well, since Aunt Joanne can’t come down all the time and for some reason she hasn’t tried to ship this to me, I’ve had to come up with my own recipe. I’ve tried one of Rachel Ray’s recipes and tried to recreate Aunt Joanne’s but it just hasn’t been perfect. So I got in the kitchen and kept adding things until I thought it tasted perfected and here’s what I came up with. I’ll have to admit, it’s pretty darn good sauce. I’m still mastering it so don’t be surprised if this recipe changes from time to time.

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped finely

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine or chicken stock

3 Tablespoon tomato paste

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 Tablespoon dried basil
I Tablespoon dried or fresh parsley (if using fresh, add a little more)

1/4 c (plus) fresh chopped basil
1/2 teaspoon salt

2-3 bay leaves

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 cans (28 oz each) crushed tomatoes

Grated parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions

Add olive oil to pot or dutch oven, heat and sauté onion for 3-5 minutes. When onions have softened add garlic and continue to sauté for another minute or so.

Deglaze with white wine or chicken stock. After most of the liquid has absorbed, add 3 T of tomato paste (the tube is the best invention ever), red pepper flakes, salt and all dried herbs. 

Best invention ever!

Stir and add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes and bay leaves. Put lid on and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour. If you have an hour to spare, go for it because they just gives the flavors more time to marry and become even more delicious. Right before the sauce is finished, add the fresh basil, stir in sauce, but save a little for garnish. I think the sauce tastes brighter if you throw in some fresh basil at the end, but don't worry if you don't have it. It is still going to be delicious!

Now let's simmer for an hour or so.

Now I don't usually just serve the sauce, I need some meat in there somewhere. Luckily I had a few of my special meatballs in the freezer so I added those to the sauce while it simmered for an hour. I'll write that recipe another day. You can also add ground beef or turkey, but one of our favorites is to add Italian sausage links. Yummers!

Doesn't it look delicious after it's simmered for over an hour??

Serve the way you like it best over pasta and enjoy!