family favorites- marinara sauce

why buy canned tomato sauce when you can make your own? i learned how to make this when i was in italy. it's not as authentic as what i had in italy, but it's still delicious.

homemade marinara sauce-

1/2 cup of diced onion
1 cup of diced carrots
1 cup of diced peppers- red, orange, or yellow- whatever you prefer
15- 20 large vine ripe hot house tomatoes, roughly chopped- you could use romas, but the vine ripes have more flavor
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 tsp of preferred herb- i usually use a combination of dried basil and oregano
salt, pepper, garlic powder, and granulated sugar- i pinch in the salt and pepper and shake a layer of garlic powder and 1/4 tsp of sugar over each ingredient as it's added to the pot.

 in a large pot, add the onion to cold oil, then turn on the burner to medium heat. season and saute until the onions are caramelized. add the carrots and peppers. season and saute. 

once everything is soft, add the tomatoes. season and gently mix. cover and simmer for about 10- 15 minutes.

remove from heat and blend, blend, blend. if you're using a traditional blender, you'll have to let the sauce cool. if you're like me and have an immersion blender, you can blend it right away, just be careful of splatter. blend until it's as smooth as you want it to be.

return the pot to the burner, this time on low. bring to a simmer and taste. re-season if needed and add herbs. simmer for another 10- 15 minutes to thicken.

i make this marinara sauce almost weekly. i use it as a base for any tomato sauce based pasta dish, i cook my pot roast or roast pork in this, as a dipping sauce for mozzarella sticks or deep fried mac n cheese balls, and as a pizza sauce. sometimes, i'll make an all yellow tomato sauce, using only yellow tomatoes and yellow peppers, or an all orange tomato sauce with orange tomatoes, carrots, and orange peppers. it's a fun way to change things up and the kids love it. 

i hope you enjoy this sauce as much as my family does!

until next post- maggie