Need a traditional marinara sauce that doesn’t come in a jar?

Look no further. The freshness of this marinara sauce makes any pasta dish deceptively fancy. Once you make it, you’ll never go back to the jarred pasta sauce again.

Classic Marinara Sauce

Yield: 4 cups       Prep time: 5-10 minutes       Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
2 28 oz cans of San Marzano tomatoes*
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup finely minced onion (I like using our seasonal sweet onions)
2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
4 sprigs fresh oregano destemmed (alternatively, you can use 2 sprigs of fresh basil destemmed and chiffonade cut)
freshly ground pink himalayan salt and black pepper (to taste)
1/2 tsp pure cane sugar (optional but helpful if serving to children – I learned the hard way 🙂

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, crush the tomatoes and their juices with your hands. Discard the stem end of the core of the tomatoes. (The sauce will be too bitter otherwise)
2. Heat olive oil in a pot on the stove over medium-low heat. Sauté the minced onion until soft (about 3 min). Add minced garlic and stir until fragrant (about 30 sec).
3. Add the crushed tomatoes with juices pot. Season with Salt. Give the sauce a stir and increase the stove’s temperature until it starts to boil. Turn down the heat and allow the sauce to simmer until it reduces (about 1 hour).
4. Use this time to boil the whole wheat pasta according to the package and cook lentil meatballs if using. Add fresh oregano, pepper and a little more salt depending on taste. Stir
5. Mix the sauce with fresh spaghetti in a pre-warmed bowl immediately after the pasta is cooked and drained. Serve with plant-based meatballs, home-made preferred. Enjoy!

Tips:

* San Marzano tomatoes are the all-stars in this marinara sauce. In fact, in Italy, they strictly label the tomato cans with its authentic region much like the French brand a bottle of champagne. So, in an attempt to be a gourmet sleuth, I drove all the way into Portland, paid $8 for parking, found the tomatoes at a little Italian market, was stuck in an hour of traffic and made it just in time before my family of test tasters arrived. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Then a friend told me that Trader Joe’s sells San Marzano tomatoes. I should have known.