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La Bella Vita Cucina

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Garden Fresh Marinara Sauce

50 Comments

 
 
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Oh my my!  It surely is fresh tomato time here, as it is in many parts of the country, I’m sure!  So what do you do with all of your tomatoes?
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First thing that we do on our acreage is make salsa . . . lol!
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You thought that I was going to say Italian tomato sauce, huh?
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Actually, we really do prepare and can our salsa first and then make the marinara sauce.  Making salsa is such a day-long affair, that I prefer to just get it out of the way and then return to preparing dishes that aren’t quite so long and involved!  But I’ll post that recipe later for you.
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Here’s a nice basic marinara sauce that you can find in many Italian cookbooks, it’s nothing unique to credit me for.  I’m sure that there is a plethora of recipes on the web as well.  But we think the aroma of this blend of ingredients is sublime and divine.
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If you don’t have freshly ripe red tomatoes, check and see if you have a local farmers market, or some really good varieties at your grocery store, and then of course you can always beg for some from a friend who has fresh tomatoes (we get that quite a lot and end of giving half of ours away every summer).  Remember the summer when tomatoes were going for $3.00 each and some restaurants stopped serving them?  We had neighbors that we didn’t even know asking for our tomatoes!
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Garden Fresh Marinara Sauce

Garden Fresh Marinara Sauce

Ingredients

  • 2 - 3 pounds fresh ripe, red tomatoes (Roma's and any other variety you like)
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 4 - 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 1 stalk celery with leaves, diced
  • 1/2 a carrot, diced
  • 1/2 bunch Italian parsley, diced
  • 1 tsp. Sea Salt
  • 30 basil leaves, minced

Instructions

  1. Fill a large, deep pot full of water and bring to a boil.
  2. Place the tomatoes in and cook them until the outer layers of skin/peel begins to crack.
  3. In the meantime, in a large fry pan, saute the garlic, onion, celery, and carrots in the olive oil for only a few minutes. Remove from heat.
  4. Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water as soon as the cracks appear.
  5. Allow to cool.
  6. When cool, remove the peel/skin with your hands and remove the green stem area.
  7. In the fry pan with the sauteed ingredients, squeeze the tomatoes through your fingers into the fry pan to sort of 'mush them up'.
  8. Add salt.
  9. Cook the sauce mixture for about 20 minutes or until your desired level of doneness.
  10. Add chopped basil and parsley.
  11. Taste. Taste. Taste.
  12. Serve over any pasta or in any dish that requires a tomato sauce.
  13. Freeze in plastic (sorry not glass) containers.
  14. Or can the sauce per safety instructions for canning/preserving food.
© Roz
 
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In a large, very deep pot of boiling water, place the tomatoes in until the outer layer of skin cracks.
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A close-up of how the tomato skin cracks from the heat of the water.
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Remove tomatoes from the pot as soon as this takes place and allow to cool.
No need to run under cold water unless you want to,
because you’re going to continue to cook the tomatoes anyway.
But wait until the tomatoes are cool enough to handle with your hands
so that you can remove the skin/peel as well as the green stem area.
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In a large fry pan, saute’ the garlic, onion, celery, and carrots in the olive oil for only a few minutes, not more than that.
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Add the chopped basil and Italian parsley to the cooked sauce (below).
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Allow the sauce to cook for another 30 minutes or so until your desired level of consistency is achieved.
And don’t forget to add more salt and seasonings if you believe they are needed.
So wa la!  The finished sauce is ready to be eaten, frozen, or canned.
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It’s really quite that simple to make!
So go get those fresh ‘maters and make some home-made goodness
that you can open up in the middle of winter and just dream of warm summer days!
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Enjoy this Garden Fresh Marinara Sauce!

 
 
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Reader Interactions

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I read each and every comment and respond to questions asap, so ask away!  As I always say, “If you’ve made a recipe, please take a photo and I’ll be happy to share your experience and photo of the recipe with all of us in this blog community!”

The kindness of giving a thumbs up 5-star rating is greatly appreciated!

~ Roz

Comments

  2. Mary at Deep South Dish says

    I put some of my tomatoes up in the freezer but I don’t can any – don’t really get that many tomatoes from my little garden so it’s mostly eat as they come to be honest. I love them best that way anyway. Your sauce looks wonderful Roz!

    Reply

  4. Christy says

    this looks delicious and so simple to do. i am hoping to have a large crop of tomatoes this year and can’t wait to make some sauce with them! thanks for the recipe.

    Reply

  9. Chef Dennis says

    Ciao Bella!
    It has been so long since I have seen anyone make marinara with fresh tomatoes….what a perfect sauce! The addition of carrots and celery is a very nice touch for this wonderful sauce!
    All the best
    Dennis

    Reply

  11. Cinnamon-Girl says

    There’s nothing better than homemade sauce with tomatoes from your garden! Nothing quite compares! Hope you’re having a wonderful summer Roz, and that all is well with you.

    Reply

  12. Kim says

    You can definitely tell that this is some gorgeous homemade sauce. I also love adding carrot to my tomato sauces. Works wonders.

    So glad to hear that your garden is thriving!

    Reply

  19. Lauren says

    OMG i am so excited you found my blog!! i am always looking for new and yummy recipes!!!! Thanks for participating in friendship friday!!

    xoxox
    Lo

    Reply

  21. Letherton says

    love your blog yummy

    Here from FF and wanted to say hi.
    Take a minute an check my blog out if you haven’t already.
    I have lots of great giveaways going on.
    Thanks 🙂

    ethertonphotography.blogspot.com

    Reply

  27. Erin Wallace says

    Oh, I love making marinara, and bolognese, and alfredo – I just love Italian!

    Here for Friday Follows and following you now. Hope to see you at Dropped Stitches!

    xo Erin
    droppedstitches72.blogspot.com

    Reply

  35. Meaghan says

    Your blog looks delicious. Visiting from LBS tea party and I would like to eat everything on the page. yum! I have a health and fitness blog and a mommy blog, hope to meet again!

    Reply

  36. Joanne says

    I really need to figure out how to can so that I can make tons and tons and tons of this and store it for the winter. Looks amazing!

    Reply

  40. redkathy says

    Hey Roz, I think the last truly fresh Marinara I ate was at my grandmothers house. You have done a fabulous job with the photos and the recipe YUMMY! In fact I think I can smell that sauce from way down here!

    Want you to know that I appreciate the beautiful comment you left the other day. ♥

    Reply

  44. Bonnie says

    I grow lots of tomatoes and love to grow San Marzano tomatoes for cooking. I’ve marked this recipe for when my tomatoes are ready to go. It looks wonderful!

    Reply

  46. Jacqueline says

    I decided to spend a little time and look through your blog, now I am starving. I am so jealous, I only had one tomato so far and a nasty little red worm got it before me. I had a dream about it a few nights later and it had turned into a big red snake! Gorgeous food.

    Reply

    • Roz says

      Actually Tracy, it’s a great question. Yes, this sauce can be canned and I always can sauce and salsa every summer if there is a large enough bounty.

      Thanks for your comment and question!
      Roz

      Reply

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