Due to the abundance of fresh tomatoes in our garden I decided to try my hand at making homemade Marinara sauce. I choose to use Giada De Laurentiis recipe for basic marinara with a few changes. I was pleasantly surprised at how incredibly easy fast and delicious this recipe was. I don’t think I will ever be able to go back to the jarred variety. The tomato and garlic really came through. I did however triple this recipe and added 3 lbs of meat for my carnivorous family. My hubby wouldn’t dare eat a marinara sans meat. He kept saying over and over, this is the best he’s ever had. I don’t get sick of hearing that.
Ingredients: 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 small onion, 2-4 garlic cloves, 1 celery stalk, 1 carrot, 1 bell pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 quart fresh tomatoes, diced or 32 oz diced canned tomatoes, 1 dried bay leave, 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
start off finely chopping your onions, cut in half remove peel, then laying onion on its cut side, cut horizontally 3/4 through the onion
Then cut small diagonally, the dice into small pieces
While your chopping your onions, heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large stock pot
Then take 3-4 cloves of garlic, pop with knife or bottom of a glass, and remove peel, chop finely
Add onions and garlic to saute until translucent, about 8-10 minutes
While onions are cooking, finely chop carrots, celery, and bell pepper
Add the rest of the diced veggies, salt and pepper- let them cook another 10 minutes of so
Then start dicing your fresh tomatoes till you reach 1 quart or just use 32 oz can of diced tomatoes
Add to sauteed veggies
Then add your bay leaves, and Italian seasonings
then simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 1 hour
Then if your like me, brown 1 lb ground beef and add to marinara, salt and pepper to taste.
The reason I tripled this recipe despite having massive amounts of tomatoes, is that I wanted to freeze the sauce for later use.
So take 2 large freezer bags, label one with the date and contents
Then take a large measuring cup, fill it up to desired ounces, for this case I did a 24 oz portion
Pour into unlabeled freezer bag, and squeeze all the air out and seal
Then put inside labeled freezer bag, squeeze all the air out and seal, then freeze!
Perfect for Spaghetti, Eggplant Parmesan, several different types of pizza, 1, 2, 3 to be exact, lasagna or any other use you can think of.
Print This Recipe Marinara Sauce taken from Giada De Laurentis
Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
1 dried bay leaves
1/2 tsp Italian Seasonings
Directions
In a large pot, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, bell pepper and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, bay leaves, Italian seasonings and simmer uncovered over low heat until the sauce thickens, about 1 hour. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season the sauce with more salt and pepper, to taste.
(The sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, then cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over medium heat before using.)
That sauce sounds really good! I’ve never made my own but should probably give it a go sometime 🙂
My mouth is watering even at 6am. 🙂
I have never made my own, I will have to try this, it looks
so good ! Thanks for stopping by my blog and sharing this great recipe. Have a very blessed day.
This looks easy enough for me to do! Thanks! =)
you are so domestically talented. Unfortunately, my husband hates sauces with “stuff” in it and demands Ragu and Ragu only.
Wow, this looks really really good. I usually just do tomatoes, onions, and garlic for my sauce but I really like the addition of the other veggies!
That looks yummy! Thanks for sharing and playing along.
We have a bunch of tomatoes planted so I will have to keep this in mind!
mmm… what a great idea! I love marinara sauce but have never thought of making it by hand, looks fantastic!
Great tutorial. Sounds like a nice recipe. Good job!
This looks wonderful. We will have to try this recipe soon!
This looks yummy! I’ll have to give it a try!
What a great idea to use all those tomatoes. Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
so smart to cook extras–I do that when I make my pesto sauce. I devote an entire Sunday in the summer to making my batches. It is soooo worth it in Dec. when we defrost one packet and have a delicious and speedy dinner.
You have fresh tomatoes already?!?! We’re going to be putting our seedlings in the garden this week! I’ll wait to enjoy your yummy recipe until later in the summer when we have tomatoes.
Oh, how I long for August — when tomatoes will be ripe and plentiful here in Wisconsin. Until then, we’ll make due with frozen garden tomatoes from last year… or locally canned tomatoes (definitely not the same!)
That looks so good!
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing with us at Food on Fridays. I have tomato blossoms, but no set fruit yet. How wonderful that you have fruit already. Thanks again.
What a lovely sauce. Thank you for sharing it with us. Have a wonderful day.
Wow! You made that look so easy! I’ll have to try that for sure!
Wonderful. Looks very good. And to freeze some is right up my alley.
I peel my garlic the same way you do, make it so much easier. Your sauce looks great!!
Looks great…and smart to make extras… I should do that more often! I hope you had a happy Foodie Friday and are having a great weekend ~ Susan
You have very yummy recipes as always !
Blessings in Him<
-Mary
I love the addition of the carrots. Talk about sweetnes and depth–and prettiness! My younger son used “jarred” Marinara last night, and he will LOVE a wonderful recipe like this. Thank you so much!
XX 00