Italian Marinara
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Forget the Ragu – this sauce has a lot more flavor and is really easy to do. It takes some time, but for me that’s part of the fun. I’ve been making and fine tuning this one for years.
Italian Marinara
Category
Italian & Mediterranean Recipes
Persons
8
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Total Time
35 minutes
Ingredients
- 28-32 oz. crushed tomatoes (or, I like to use 12-16 fresh garden Roma tomatoes)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ – 1 tsp black pepper and/or red pepper flakes.
- 1 large carrot (optional)
- Olive oil
- ½ onion, diced
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp dried basil or 2 Tbsp fresh chopped basil
- 1 tsp dried parsley or 1 Tbsp fresh chopped Italian parsley
- ½# – 1# Italian sausage (shrimp or scallops are also an option)
- Red wine
- 1# Pasta
- Grated Italian Cheese (Parmigiana, Romano, etc)
Instructions
- Start simmering the tomatoes. If making a large batch a mix of crushed and diced tomatoes works well.
- Add the salt, sugar, and pepper to the tomatoes.
- Optional, you can add a large carrot cut in halves to the sauce to absorb some acid and release some sugar
- Add 2 Tbsp of olive oil to a skillet, and sweat the onion for about 15 minutes
- If using dried herbs, add them to the onions about half way through (if using fresh herbs, wait to add these for the last couple of minutes of cook time).
- Add the garlic to the onion for the last 5 minutes
- Add the onion, garlic and oil to the tomatoes.
- Brown the Italian sausage in the remaining olive oil, and add to the sauce. (If adding shrimp or scallops, these do not need to be browned and you will add these for the last 5 minutes of marinara cook time).
- Deglaze the skillet with some wine, and add to the sauce.
- Simmer uncovered, stirring regularly, until thickened.
- In another pot, cook the pasta in 4 quarts of water to 1# pasta, in an 8 quart or larger pot with 2 Tbsp. salt. Cook extra el dente (2-3 minutes less than the package says) and then stop the pasta from cooking by adding 2 cups cold water. Drain.
- Add the pasta back to the pot and add five or six ladles of marinara sauce to the pasta and stir over a medium-high heat until thickened.
- If using fresh herbs or seafood, add for the last 5-8 minutes of marinara cook time.
- Serve pasta by filling each plate with an additional ladle full of sauce on top and grated cheese.