How To Make The Best Marinara Ever

My Napolitan Marinara Sauce Recipe

• TOMATO PREPARATION: Bring a stock pot half filled with water to a boil. Place about twenty-thirty tomatoes in boiling water for approximately 10 minutes or until skins split on the tomatoes.
  
  Remove tomatoes from water, place in a draining basket or colander to cool. Remove skins and set aside - do not throw them away yet. Repeat process until all your tomatoes are blanched and peeled and ready to store.
  
  At this point, you can make the sauce now or later. Once the tomatoes are blanched, you can freeze the whole tomatoes in freezer bags or one quart Ball Canning/Freezer Jars. If desired, make marinara sauce from some of the tomatoes and use, can, or freeze the sauce.

• FRESH TOMATO PASTE: Remember the tomato skins? Get a teaspoon and scrape the skins' red pulp into a dish. My basket of tomatoes yielded about one small can of paste. Great for flavoring or thickening your favorite sauce.

• FRESH MARINARA SAUCE: 1/8 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fresh Garlic (1-2 cloves chopped, sliced, shaved, however you like.), Sea Salt, Basil.
  
  Heat olive oil and garlic, salt, and basil on low in a medium sauce pan to infuse the oil. Be careful not to brown garlic. The olive oil is infused when you can smell the herbs together. Remove pan from heat and fill pan with blanched Roma tomatoes. Hand squish whole cooked tomatoes into the infused oil until well mixed. Bring to heat. Cook as little or as long as desired. The basic marinara is now ready to eat, freeze, can, or use as a basic component of other recipes.

• AFFORDABLE INGREDIENTS:One bushel of tomatoes cost $8.50 direct from the farmer. The two fresh clumps of garlic were $1.00. The olive oil was about $5.00. My yield was approximately 40+ cups of marinara and whole tomatoes.

• MARINARA IS VERSATILE: Although Marinara is the base of many Mediterranean recipes is good just the way it is. One of my favorite ways is hot served with hot crusty ciabatta bread.