Pasta with Marinara Sauce

January 24, 2009 · 10 Comments

I was probably the only kid who loved tomatoes growing up. I surely got that love from my mother, who adored fresh tomatoes. She’d pluck them straight from the garden, cut them into slices, and sprinkle them with either sugar or salt, depending on her mood. I loved the juicy, sweet-tart taste, and the burst of flavor that would explode in your mouth.

So it’s surprising that as a child, I really disliked spaghetti. I attribute that to the fact that spaghetti in our house came from a jar. I hated the watery sauce and the lack of a pure tomato taste. I pretty much gave up on spaghetti entirely…until I tried making my own marinara sauce recently.

I was shocked at how easily this came together, and how great it tastes. It’s unbelieveably healthy for you–I can’t think of a single thing that doesn’t have an added benefit. Lycopene-packed tomatoes, antioxident properties of the onion and garlic, good-for-you olive oil…it’s like an elixir in a bowl!

I used this sauce on whole wheat rotini, which was great because the spirals held the chunky bits beautifully, ensuring each bite was flavor-packed. I also sprinked pepper flakes on my pasta, because I love the heat.

This sauce freezes wonderfully, so go ahead and make a big batch of it.

Recipe: Marinara Sauce
Makes about 3 cups

1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 (14.5 ounce) cans stewed or whole peeled tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup white wine

In a skillet, sauté the diced onion and celery in olive oil until tender. If you like your marinara chunky, set the sautéed vegetables aside; if you like your marinara smooth, place the vegetables in a food processor.

In the food processor, blend the vegetables (optional), tomatoes with juice, tomato paste, dried herbs, salt and pepper. Pulse until mixture is well-blended and smooth.

Add the sauce and white wine to the skillet. Simmer uncovered over low heat, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 45 minutes.

Tags: Ethnic Cuisine · Italian · Main Course · Vegetarian

10 responses so far ↓

1 caroline // Jan 24, 2009 at 9:03 am

that looks fantastic!! i’d do the same with pepper flakes!

so funny, i’m the opposite of you– when i was little, you know how much i hated tomatoes but i loooooved spaghetti. so really, it was raw tomato that i hated. now i love them all!
2 luckytastebuds // Jan 24, 2009 at 11:36 pm

You take such gorgeous pictures it’s making me hungry. :) I LOVE that you make your foods from scratch and choose not to go with the ready canned sauces. You’re definitely my role model!
3 dharmagirl // Jan 25, 2009 at 10:49 am

delicious! i just made rotini with homemade red sauce on Friday night. i added red and yellow peppers to the sauce…yum.
4 carolina // Jan 27, 2009 at 9:19 am

I used to love picking tomatoes from my grandparent’s garden. I can still remember the sweet, warm, smell. I prefer fresh from canned any day! Your pictures are lovely.
5 teaandscones // Jan 28, 2009 at 6:55 am

Your sauce looks nice and thick. Mine always comes out too thin. Makes me hungry just to look at it.
6 jd // Feb 19, 2009 at 12:27 pm

Ooo… I am definitely drooling now!

I loved tomatoes as a child, too… especially cherry ones from the garden :) I guess we were both weird kids, huh?!

Can’t wait to try your recipe – I’m always looking for good marinara sauces.
7 Saki // Mar 13, 2009 at 12:52 am

Awesome! I can’t wait to make this. Umm… Question: what’s a suitable replacement for white wine?
8 HappyTummy // Mar 14, 2009 at 7:09 am

Hi Saki! Hope you get to try the recipe–it’s really easy. For the white wine, you could really just substitute water. The purpose of that liquid is just to thin out the sauce a bit. I used white wine because I had an open bottle on hand, but it’s not like I tasted it very strongly in the pasta sauce in the end, once everything was cooked.
9 Saki // Mar 15, 2009 at 5:22 pm

hehe… thanks happytummy! ;D

while I still have you here, heh, what would be a suitable replacement for canned tomatoes? (not the paste)
10 HappyTummy // Mar 16, 2009 at 5:24 am

well, if it’s a different type of canned tomato you’re looking for, i’m sure you could used canned diced, canned crushed or even tomato puree. if you’re looking for something outside of canned entirely, i guess you could just use real tomatoes!

HappyTummy