海角大神

This post is about breaking old habits and overcoming fears.聽In our kitchen, both for the blog and for everyday cooking, we try to work with real ingredients as much as possible, not overly processed foods. (We do count certain canned and frozen goods as ingredients 鈥� beans, tomatoes, and spinach, for instance.) But for some reason, 滨鈥檝别 resisted making my own marinara sauce.

Partly, it鈥檚 because the idea has always intimidated me a little. I pictured Italian grandmothers, dressed in black, of course, crushing freshly peeled tomatoes by hand, adding countless ingredients and simmering the sauce for countless hours. Partly, though, if I鈥檓 being honest, it鈥檚 because 滨鈥檝别 always considered marinara (and other basic red sauces) fairly low on the Italian foods evolutionary scale. It鈥檚 what unsure tourists order at the Olive Garden. It鈥檚 how you introduce children to Italian cuisine. It鈥檚 what you throw together for a quick comfort-food dinner after a hectic day, starting with a jar of store-bought sauce that you doctor with additional ingredients. Or at least, that鈥檚 what聽滨鈥檝别聽done for far too long.

Turns out making homemade marinara sauce is easy 鈥� and about as quick as doctoring a jar of sauce. At its most basic, marinara sauce is an Italian tomato sauce made with garlic, onion, and herbs. You can start with the base sauce and customize it into many variations, depending on your mood or what鈥檚 in the fridge or pantry.

I had been sneaking up on the idea of making my own marinara sauce for a while, but what finally got me off the dime was an excellent piece on the聽聽outlining six common mistakes in making the basic sauce. Not only did it tell me what聽not聽to do, it made聽doing聽sound fairly straightforward and simple. So after looking at a few recipes (through Bon App茅tit鈥檚 mistakes filter), I put together my own. It was indeed easy and quite good. I made mine adding some Italian sausage, and I used dried oregano. See Kitchen Notes for additional variations.

Homemade marinara sauce
Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
Salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano (see Kitchen Notes)
1/2 pound mild Italian sausage (optional)
1 28-ounce can peeled whole Italian tomatoes (see Kitchen Notes)
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (also optional)
12 ounces dry pasta, cooked to package directions (I used spaghetti)

1. Heat a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-low flame. Swirl olive oil and butter together in pot until butter is melted and fats are combined. Add onion and a pinch of salt, and sweat, stirring frequently. After 5 minutes, add garlic and oregano (the fragrance will be wonderful). Cook for an additional 10 minutes, stirring frequently and lowering heat if necessary. You don鈥檛 want the aromatics to brown or burn; you just want the onion to be very soft.

2. If you鈥檙e adding sausage, brown it now in a separate skillet with a drizzle of olive oil over medium flame, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. You don鈥檛 want it crispy brown, just not pink. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate and reserve.

3. When onions have softened, add tomatoes and their juices to the Dutch oven. Using a hand masher, break up the whole tomatoes. (You can crush them by hand in a bowl before starting to cook, if you prefer, but the masher is quicker and less messy 鈥� also, any juices you end up washing off your hands are juices that don鈥檛 end up in the sauce.) If you鈥檝e cooked some sausage, add it to the pot now. Raise the heat and bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and partially cover.

4. Cook the sauce for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. About halfway through the process, remove it from the heat and, using an immersion blender, blend the sauce to the desired mix of smooth and chunky. Don鈥檛 overdo this 鈥� you want some texture and some chunks. If you don鈥檛 have an immersion blender, pulse (don鈥檛 pur茅e) in a food processor. Resume cooking until the sauce is somewhat thickened.

5. Meanwhile, cook the pasta. Time it so the pasta is a minute or two shy of al dente when the sauce is done. Drain the pasta, reserving about 1/2 cup pasta water. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to combine, adding pasta water a bit at a time if it seems dry. Cook for another minute or two to finish pasta and let it absorb some sauce.

6. Divide among four shallow pasta bowls and top with some Parmesan, if desired. Serve.

Kitchen Notes

Variations on a theme.聽Add some sausage, as I did 鈥� mild, hot, you decide. Or crushed red pepper flakes if you like heat. Some recipes call for all kinds of vegetables 鈥� celery, carrots, or whatever鈥檚 in the fridge. Bon App茅tit calls this a mistake. I agree, but it鈥檚 your sauce. You decide. And that said, we love adding frozen spinach to red sauce. A little wine is also a good but optional addition, either red or white. Use a light hand, though, or it will take over.

Dried herbs? Fresh? And which ones?聽You get lots of variation here too. Oregano and basil are popular favorites. If you鈥檙e using dry, add them with the onions as I did, so they can release their flavorful oils and soften. If you鈥檙e using fresh, add them at the very end 鈥� and add more, since dried are more powerful.

Use good tomatoes.聽These are the backbone of the sauce, so choose well. Whole, peeled, Italian canned tomatoes are the best bet. If you can find San Marzano plum tomatoes, those are considered the gold standard by many chefs.

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