Fresh tomatoes are the key ingredients to marinara sauce.
Once you see how easy it is to make marinara sauce using fresh tomatoes, and how good it tastes, you'll be spoiled for anything less. Tomatoes that are plump and very ripe make the best sauce. Just chop it all up, stir it together, and let it simmer.
Instructions
Prepare Onions
1. Chop the onion into small pieces so its flavor will spread through the sauce.
Peel the onion and dice it into small pieces using the large chopping knife and the chopping board.
2. Pour the olive oil into the large pot. Heat it on medium-high until the oil is hot. Carefully scrape the onions into the hot oil, standing back so you are not splashed with hot oil.
3. Spread out the onions with the large spoon so they form a single layer. Add another tablespoon of olive oil if necessary to keep the onion from burning. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir the onions gently. Allow the onions to cook for about three minutes, stirring once.
Prepare Tomatoes
4. Fill the medium pot half full with water. Heat on high until the water is boiling vigorously. Use the large spoon to carefully transfer six tomatoes, one at a time, into the boiling water without splashing.
5. Watch the tomatoes and when the skin just cracks on one, which will likely take only a minute or two, carefully remove it with the spoon. Set each tomato aside to cool.
6. Bring the water back to a boil and carefully place another six tomatoes in the pot. Remove each tomato when its skin cracks and set it aside to cool. Finish the remaining tomatoes, if any, in the same way.
7. Insert the fork into the stem end of one tomato, starting with the coolest tomatoes. Use the paring knife to grasp the tomato's skin where it has cracked and gently pull the skin off the tomato with the knife. Put the peeled tomato on the chopping board. Continue peeling each tomato this way.
8. Chop the tomatoes with the large knife, cutting each tomato into about 20 small to medium sized pieces. Add the tomatoes to the onions in the large pot. Stir them together, bringing the onions up from the bottom to mix in with the tomatoes. Cover with a lid and continue to cook on medium-low.
Add Remaining Ingredients
9. Fresh garlic imparts pure garlic flavor that powdered garlic cannot imitate.
Place a clove of garlic on the chopping board. Lay the flat part of the blade of the large chopping knife on top of the garlic clove, with the sharp blade away from you. Press down hard on the knife to slightly flatten the clove. Remove the knife and peel the clove. Pushing down on the clove loosens the skin and makes it easy to peel.
10. Follow the same flattening procedure with each garlic clove. Slice off the ends of the cloves. Chop each garlic clove into thin slices or, if you prefer, into smaller pieces.
11. Scrape the garlic into the large pot with the tomatoes and onions. Stir the ingredients together. Replace the lid and let the mixture continue to cook.
12. Fresh basil has a sweet, pungent aroma and taste.
Chop the fresh basil into smaller pieces and scrape it into the large pot. Or measure the dried basil and pour it into the large pot. Follow the same procedure with the oregano.
13. Measure and add salt and pepper to the large pot. Measure and add the wine to the large pot. Stir all the ingredients together gently. Replace the lid and allow the mixture to cook for about two hours on medium-low heat.
Tags: each tomato, into large, , garlic clove, , chopping knife