Simple Marinara Sauce

Growing up there was always a bowl of marinara sauce in our fridge.  It was a component to many meals and was important to keep on hand.   Just as you would keep a jar of store bought sauce in your pantry, we kept homemade marinara in our fridge or freezer.  When I show you how simple it is to make you will never buy it again.  If the simplicity of making it doesn't win you, the taste difference will.  Have you ever looked at the ingredients in a store purchased jar? if it isn't organic or made with quality ingredients you are purchasing a jar of chemicals/preservatives.  Now you will use a can or carton of tomato but everything else will be fresh ingredients.

16 ounce container/can/carton of whole tomatoes (I used my jar of fresh canned)
1 cup of water
2 Tbsp of Extra virgin olive oil
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 Tsp of crushed red pepper

Sea salt to taste
2-3 leaves of fresh basil chopped or 1tsp dried
1/4 cup of grated romano cheese
Immersion blender or regular blender

Sauté the garlic and crushed red pepper in the olive oil on medium heat until fragrant. Pour in your tomatoes, with the juice add your water and use your immersion blender to break down the tomatoes, or place your tomatoes in your blender without the cup of water and blend then add to pot and add water. Season with salt. Bring to a boil reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat add your basil, at this point if you are adding your grated cheese do so now (this is optional) I like to add it because it balances out the acidity of the tomatoes. 

Remember any of the spices can be decreased or increased to your taste these are my standards. This sauce is versatile you can use it to top chicken, veal or eggplant parm or to make eggs in purgatory ( something we ate a lot of growing up) but that's another recipe 😊

Buon Appetito!!