Homemade Marinara Sauce

When faced with a bumper crop of tomatoes why not make your own marinara sauce?  I found this basic recipe, tweaked it a little and it turned out quite easy and delicious.  Keep in mind that this recipe can be easily modified to fit your needs and tastes.  When I was done peeling and seeding I found that I had 7 cups of tomatoes and not the 12 the original recipe calls for so I adjusted all the other ingredients accordingly. 

Ingredients

7 cups peeled and seeded ripe tomatoes

1 large onion, chopped

1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 Tablespoon mixed dried herbs (I used Italian blend)

1/3 cup red wine

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

 

In a large pot heat olive oil.  Add onions and saute over medium heat stirring frequently.  When onions are starting to become translucent and golden brown (about 5 minutes) add garlic and dried herbs and cook for 5 another minutes.

Add red wine (I didn't really add the wine from my glass, I just thought it was funny to photograph it that way!)  Stir well, scraping the herbs, onion and garlic from bottom of pan.  Cook for 2 minutes. 

 

Add tomatoes and bay leaf bring to gentle simmer then lower heat and cook slowly for 2 hours.  Stir frequently.  Add more salt & pepper to taste if needed.

 

When it was done I took out about a cup to freeze and use another day for pizza sauce. 

 

For now I decided to brown some ground beef to make a bolognese sauce to serve over (gluten free corn) spaghetti. So good and so proud of myself. I made this from scratch!

 

And the tomatoes keep coming...



I'm linking this post to Must Try Mondays on My Favorite Finds...because you must try this recipe!  :)