I love this vibrant red herby sauce, and since a recent visit to Italy, I thought it was about time to update my recipe. Simplicity and flavour are the key here, a few quality ingredients and a simple cooking method deliver the best results. Marinara sauce is great with pasta but is also great with fried foods such as arancini, mac and cheese balls or as a dip for breadsticks and a topping for Bruschetta. Bellissimo!
TIP! - If you want your Marinara to be smoother and less chunky you can pop it into a blender for 30 secs or blitz it with a stick blender after the sauce is finished and ideally still warm.
Ingredients:
400g Good Quality Tinned Chopped Tomatoes (The better the quality the better the sauce!).
Fat Clove of Garlic.
Small / Medium Onion.
Fresh Basil (Bunch).
Dried Oregano.
Dried Red Chilli Flakes.
Olive Oil.
Rock Salt.
Black Pepper.
Method:
Take a medium sized pan or saucepan and heat a few tablespoons of good quality olive oil, no need for extra virgin here just a good quality regular olive oil will do fine. Finley chop your onion and garlic clove, and sauté these on a medium heat until softened but not browned.
Add a tsp of your red chilli flakes and 1.5 tsp's of oregano and cook these with the garlic and onion for a minute or so to release the flavours.
Now add your can of chopped tomatoes, a good seasoning of rock salt and black pepper and a few basil leaves. Simmer the sauce for 20-30 minutes, stirring regularly and breaking up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon.
Once the 20-30 minutes is up, check the seasoning again and add more rock salt and black pepper if needed. Remove the basil leaves and discard them, they have done their job and released the flavours into the sauce.
Serve the sauce warm with freshly chopped basil and a little drizzle of olive oil, or you can store it in the fridge for 3-4 days and use as required. I normally have a batch ready to go!
As i mentioned at the start of this post, If you want your Marinara to be smoother and less chunky you can pop it into a blender for 30 secs or blitz it with a stick blender after the sauce is finished and is still warm.
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