From Scratch Marinara Sauce
Tomatoes are being harvested faster than I can use them up. My refrigerator was stocked with my homemade salsa and I needed another way to make use of the abundance of tomatoes coming my way, so I went looking for an easy marinara sauce. While I pride myself on cooking from scratch, the one thing I never really tried to make from scratch was pasta sauce. The stuff you buy at the store tastes fine enough and if you read your labels, you can find pre-made organic sauce without sugar or or other unwanted ingredients. It worked for me, but last year I tried making my first ever attempt at pasta sauce “from scratch” using canned tomatoes and tomato paste. It turned out great, but the more I read about heavy metal toxicity, the more I try to avoid canned foods whenever possible.
So, now with summer tomato production in high supply I was ready to go all in and try making it completely from scratch! The following recipe was passed on to me from a friend and it’s amazingly simple. I plan to make as many jars as I can this summer then freeze them to use all winter long!
- 8 Cups Fresh Tomatoes, cut into 1 or 1 1/2 inch wedges
- 1 Sweet Onion, sliced or diced
- 20 Garlic Cloves, peeled
- Olive Oil
- Fresh Basil
- Salt and Pepper
- Preheat the oven to 375* F.
- Place the vegetables into roasting pans in one layer
- 1 C. fresh basil
- Generous drizzle of olive oil
- Salt and pepper sprinkled over
- Roast for about an hour
- Once vegetables have cooled, process in a food processor.
- Store in canning jars in the refrigerator for up to a week. I freeze the jars I don't plan to use right away.
