“This Red Sauce Ain’t No Joke” - Marinara Sauce Recipe
After you taste this tomato marinara sauce, you will find it hard to go back to a canned sauce. Don’t worry if you don’t like olives - it just adds more flavor to the sauce. If you are making anything that requires a marinara sauce, try this recipe! It’s also very satisfying to squeeze the tomatoes in your hands as you make the sauce! A little bit of cooking therapy! Enjoy!
“This Red Sauce Ain’t No Joke”
Once you make this, you will have a hard time going back to canned sauce!
Sauce:
Ingredients:
2 Cans of whole peeled tomatoes (San Marzano if possible)
6 cloves of garlic
2 heaping Tbs pitted black olives (if you don’t like olives, you can’t really taste them – they just add a salty flavor and “umami” to the sauce)
1/2 cup Vidalia onion (diced)
4 Tbs olive oil
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbs dried marjoram
1 tsp dried rosemary
2 Tbs granulated Sugar
2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt to taste
Freshly cracked pepper to taste
Directions:
Remove the tomatoes from the can and place in a large bowl. Squeeze the tomatoes with your hands until there are no large chunks remaining. Set aside.
Peel the garlic cloves, dice and set aside. Dice the onion. Give the olives a rough chop.
Pour the olive oil in a saucepan and heat over medium low heat. Once the oil is warm, add the garlic, onion and olives then sweat until the mixture become aromatic. Do not brown the garlic. Maybe 2 -3 minutes.
Pour in the squeezed tomatoes and mix well. Add the dried spices, sugar, and balsamic vinegar. Cover the saucepan partially and simmer until the sauce reduces by about 15% and looks velvety and rich. Add kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste. Set aside.