Basic Marinara Sauce Recipe

 

Almost ready.

This basic sauce is a staple in my home.  I make huge batches of it and it is easy to scale up or down.  I like to portion out into quarts and freeze it.  This recipe will make about 5 to 6 quarts of sauce. This is a great base sauce you can add in whatever you want when you reheat it.  Some of our favorites are mushrooms, spinach, ground meat, or just plain.  I use it for chicken florentine or parmesan, baked pasta dishes, and meatballs. Pour it over stuffed zucchini or eggplant and anything else you can think of.. Tons of uses for it and a family favorite, no one gets bored with it.

The veg before adding the tomatoes.

It is a fluid recipe if you don’t have fresh parsley leave it out.  No fresh basil use dried or use both.  Sometimes I toss in a sprig of rosemary.  I use whatever wine is open I like what it adds to the end product, no wine no big deal. I give a range for garlic as some love it to the extreme and some people do not.  This is a recipe I tend to under salt and adjust when I reheat. Don’t worry about having perfect chopping it is getting blitzed up in the blender. Blending it creates a nice emulsion.

The blending makes a lovely emulsion.  You can leave it chunky if you want to,.

 Basic Marinara

olive oil, to coat the bottom

1 to 2 onions chopped

2 to 8 cloves chopped garlic

2 cups chopped celery

4 cups chopped carrots

1/2  wine

basil fresh or dried to taste

fresh parsley chopped

2 bay leaves

12 cups tomatoes or or roughly 6 pounds (I buy the big cans of crushed tomatoes)

salt and pepper to taste

Chop it all up and sautee in big pot.  I add as I go. Let is simmer for one hour to three hours on low or as low as you can go and still have a simmer.  You want the veg to be soft enough to blitz in the blender.  Once sauce is cool blend and in gallon bags, freeze. Making this one day and blending the next makes it easier for me. If you have any questions leave a comment and I will answer them.  

Ready to freeze.