Marinara Sauce

Marinara Sauce is meant to be a basic red sauce that you can add whatever else you like to it. Eggplant, ground beef, mushrooms...
This stuff is so fragrant and yummy that when I let the son smell from the cold, leftovers pan out of the fridge he wanted some right away even though red sauces 
sometimes bother his stomach.

Save money if you have a ton of tomatoes in your garden, or can get some cheaply. 
Oh, forget cheap! This is GOOD, and no corn syrup added!

So here is a basic sauce.

• About 6 quarts of fresh, seeded, pureed tomatoes (peel them if you like, I didn't)
• 2 lg. chopped onions
• A whole large bulb of garlic, or 10+ cloves 
• Fresh herbs. Such as: thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary, to taste
• 4 Tab. Olive oil (not extra virgin, unless your goal is to smoke up the kitchen)
• 1/4-1/2 c. red or Marsala wine, or a splash of red wine vinegar (this is optional, but the alcohol cooks out, leaving a nice flavor)
• salt, to taste

Puree all of the tomatoes and place sauce in at least an 8 qt. pan. 

Chop onions, garlic and herbs in a food processor. I picked out the woody stems from the herbs, but left any softer ones. Food processor chops them up nicely. 

Heat oil in a large skillet on medium high heat and add the onion/herb/garlic mixture, cooking until onions are starting to caramelize (getting brownish tells you this). 
Add this to the pot of tomatoes and pour in the wine or vinegar, if using.

Cook the sauce on medium to low for 2 hours. It may still be a little juicy, 

but oh so fragrant and tasty! Add salt to taste.

Add meat or whatever else you like and serve over your favorite pasta with a sprinkle of cheese. I used a Parmesan, Asiago, Mozzarella, Provolone, Romano blend, and meat that I had already seasoned for breakfast burritos, but didn't use all of. Delizioso!!

I think I may can some of this next year. I've canned all of my tomatoes in salsa this year. Here's my Tar Tar's Salsa recipe.