Homemade Marinara

I am still very new at making my own sauces. If I can make food cheaper and/or taste better, I want to do that every time possible. This recipe is from budgetbytes.com. I made half of the recipe because it would have been a lot of sauce to use if I didn't like the taste. It was pretty good. I added a little salt. Next time I might skip the balsamic vinegar. Usually I love that stuff, but I think it was too tangy for me. It wasn't difficult at all. It takes some time because it simmers for an hour.

Anyways, it was good, not great, but it's the only marinara recipe I have right now, so I will hold on to it. If anybody has a recipe that they love, please let me know!

Here's the recipe:

Homemade Marinara

INGREDIENTS

Two 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes

1 medium onion

4 cloves garlic

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 6 oz. can tomato paste

1 Tbsp dried basil

1/2 Tbsp dried oregano

2 medium bay leaves

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

STEP 1: Finely dice the onion and garlic. Cook in a large pot with 3 Tbsp of olive oil until very soft and slightly golden brown. I wanted to make a sweeter sauce which is why I let the onions and garlic caramelize a bit. If you don't like sweet sauces, proceed to the next step before they get any color on them.

STEP 2: Add the rest of the ingredients (crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, bay leaves, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar) to the pot. Simmer on medium/low for one hour. Be careful of the splattering sauce! Leave a lid on the pot but slightly ajar to allow steam to escape but keep flying blobs of sauce from landing on your counter top.

STEP 3: Taste the sauce after a half hour or so and adjust spices and seasoning to your liking. The proportions listed above yield a slightly sweet and tangy sauce. If you like savory sauces, leave out the balsamic vinegar and reduce the sugar to 1 tsp. Some sugar is usually needed to balance the high acidity of the tomatoes.

NOTE: If you plan on freezing some of your sauce (I don't know who can eat 6.5 cups of sauce within a week...) make sure to cool the sauce in the refrigerator first in a covered container. Once cool, transfer to heavy duty freezer bags and label. Marinara sauce freezes great and is super easy to take out and thaw whenever you need!

Here it is, bubbling away!