Italian Cooking Recipes & Tips

Here is a great recipe for marinara sauce using canned tomatoes. This marinara sauce is delicious over your favorite pasta, on top of pizza and over mussels and shrimp. The beauty of this sauce is that it can be used with a number of other recipes, so it's a great starting point in Italian Cooking and it is very easy to make.

You can use either fresh or canned plum tomatoes for this recipe, however using fresh tomatoes requires more time and preparation, so I prefer to use canned. If you do plan on using fresh tomatoes, make certain the tomatoes are ripe and in season.

For the canned tomatoes, I prefer Rienzi brand tomatoes. I have tried a number of different brands of canned tomatoes and Rienzi has the best flavor amongst the supermarket brands, in my opinion.

Marinara Sauce Ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped (More or less depending on how much you like garlic)
1 35 ounce can of whole plum tomatoes with liquid
Salt to taste
Crushed red pepper to taste (You can use black pepper if you wish)
10 - 12 fresh basil leaves , torn
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano

Directions:

1) Open your can of tomatoes and crush them by hand into a bowl and set aside.

2) Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add your garlic to the oil and cook until soft and lightly browned. Be sure to watch the garlic to make sure it doesn't burn.

4) Carefully add the tomatoes along with their liquid into the pan with the garlic and oil. Use caution when adding the tomatoes to the hot oil. The oil can splatter. Add the oregano.

5) Stir the mixture and bring to a boil. Season with a bit of salt and red or black pepper. Lower the heat so that the sauce is reduced to a simmer. Break up the tomatoes as it cooks with a spoon until your sauce is chunky. You want the sauce to simmer until thickened, about 20 - 25 minutes.

6) Add your fresh basil a few minutes before the sauce is done. Taste the sauce and add more salt or pepper if needed.

7) Serve over your favorite pasta.

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Ingredients

3 Cloves of Garlic ( pick 3 full size cloves) - sliced or chopped
1 Medium size Onion - chopped
1 Medium size Potato ( use any general use potato) - cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 28oz Can of Crushed Tomatoes ( Make sure the brand you choose, uses Roma tomatoes. They have the best flavor for an Italian sauce. They have more of an elongated oval shape instead of a round stubby shape of a salad tomato)
1 6oz Can of Tomato Paste ( Again, Make sure the brand you choose, uses Roma tomatoes.)
1 Tablespoons of Sugar
Salt & Pepper ( you will add these to taste)
28oz of Water ( You can use the 28oz can of crushed tomatoes when it's empty.)
2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 large fresh Basil leaves- torn or whole

Have all the ingredients ready before you start!

In a large sauce pan, add the oil, onions and potatoes. Saute on Medium heat for 2 minutes than add garlic and continue to saute until the garlic and onions have a golden hue. ( Make sure you don't burn the garlic. If you do, start over again. The taste of burnt garlic is horrible! )

Once they reach that beautiful golden color and have a wonderful aroma, add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, water and salt and pepper. Stir until all the tomato paste has been incorporated.
Remain on Medium heat and bring to a rolling boil. (You may want to cover the pan leaving it a little ajar so that steam can escape. Or you can leave it off and enjoy watching the boiling bubbles burst straight up to the ceiling and on the walls and in places that make you go HOW?! )

Stir frequently! Cook for around 40 minutes or until the potatoes are very tender.

Add basil at the very end.

The sugar and potato are what reduce the acid in this tomato sauce.

I hope you enjoy!! Buon Appetito!