The Wonders of Marinara

I love pasta with tomato sauce and I was surprised when I discovered how fast and easy it is. Making a delicious tomato sauce can be done is about the same amount of time it takes to make the pasta...less than 15 minutes.


Here is the outline of a marinara sauce.

Start the noodles while preparing the sauce. They should cook for 10-12 minutes in boiling water depending on the type of pasta. Taste to decide if the noodles are done.

1) Saute aromatics in oil until done
2) Add canned tomatoes and cook for 10-30 minutes
3) Taste and adjust seasonings
4) Optionally puree some or all of the sauce
5) Add good stuff
6) Eat

Now for some details.

The aromatics typically include onion and garlic, but anything is game. I like a hint of ginger myself. See this for more details on aromatics.

Just about any canned tomatoes will do, but if you use whole tomatoes and don't puree, it will be a very chunky sauce. If that is what you like, go for it. I use diced tomatoes, usually organic, but I've tried several kinds.

I cannot stress enough that tasting is important. Tasting for salt is important, the food should taste good, but it should not taste salty--as odd as that sounds. There are many different flavors and spices you can add to a marinara sauce, There are the obvious ones:
1) Oregano
2) Basil
3) Pepper
4) Sage
5) Mushrooms
6) Salt

And some much less obvious ones
1) Cumin
2) Olives
3) Anchovies
4) Fish Sauce
5) Cilantro
6) Hot Peppers
7) Cinnamon
8) Lavendar
9) Mint
10) Sugar or Honey

On to the Stuff


You can add lots of yummy stuff to the marinara sauce. Add it to the sauce at whatever point leaves it enough time to cook and share flavors with the rest of the sauce. Here are some ideas.

1) Shrimp
2) Meatballs
3) Ricotta
4) Capers
5) Peppers
6) Spinach
7) Parmesan/Romano/Asiago Cheese
8) Fish
9) Apple

It's a big wild world of marinara sauces, they can be made in to just about anything you can dream of. They can be sweet, savory, mild, hot. They can taste Italian, Indian, Japanese or Thai depending on what you are looking for. People get trapped in to thinking that every spaghetti sauce should taste like tomatoes, garlic, basil and oregano.

Lastly, marinara sauce should not be relegated only to pasta, it can go well on fish, chicken or rice. It goes great on a nice man and cheese sandwich or as a dipping sauce. It can be used hot or cold...it's all good.

Bon Appetit