Momma Ferraro's Marinara Sauce

I was going to write about "white washing" paint today until I received an email that asked "what brand of spaghetti sauce do I buy at the grocery store?" Huh?? Ok....I sat back and had a good chuckle on that one. What brand do I buy?  It's called Momma Ferraro's and I make it once a week! I pulled a picture from Pinterest of what a good sauce looks like because I want to post this message today, before anyone else goes to the grocery store and buys another jar of spaghetti sauce.  This is what fresh marinara or spaghetti sauce looks like. It's fresh, aromatic, clean (meaning healthy), bread sopping sauce with no preservatives!

I know we are all busy and that time is limited, but this is where I draw the line.  Making spaghetti sauce is not hard.  It is just about the easiest thing to make - ever.  And it is soooo good! We have a traditional pasta dinner once a week in our house with good bread and a salad.  You can make it ahead of time and have dinner ready in the 10 minutes it takes to boil your pasta.  Those of you that are carb freaks....relax.  Enjoy a good plate of pasta once in awhile.  You will be happy you did. Find a day or time when you are going to be home for an hour or two.  Yes, it takes a bit of time, but the stove is doing all the work. You just have to mix and stir occasionally.

Here is what you start with....

 I use 3 large cans of Hunts Whole Peeled Plum Tomatoes and one small can of plain paste and sometimes 4 depends on how much sauce I need.  I'm not plugging Hunts, but we've tried the others and Hunt's is the best.

1 large sweet onion, salt and garlic.  You can use fresh garlic but since most of you are looking for ease, use the already chopped garlic. You will also need about 1 1/2 cups of oil. Use either vegetable oil or olive oil.  The olive oil is a little heavier.....but either works.

Place the oil in a large sauce pan.  Chop up the onion and saute in the pan until the onions are a bit translucent.  Then add a large tsp of garlic.  Yep, put a scoop in there!  Add a tsp of salt.

Put your tomatoes in a blender and blend them up.  Any blender will do.  Pour the three cans of blended tomatoes into your oil and onion mixture.  Add your paste.  Bring this mixture to a heavy boil (which won't take long) and then turn dow to simmer.  You should keep a slow soft boil going.

Now.....you have to stir the sauce periodically so what settles at the bottom doesn't burn. You also want to stir just the bottom of the pan throughout the next hour and a half so that all of your oil comes to the top.  You want the oil to come to the top so you can skim this off and throw it away while it is simmering.  If you go crazy and stir everything together, this won't happen. This is where I pour myself a glass of wine, pull out a good book and let the sauce simmer :).   However you relax, enjoy the fact that you are making a fabulous true Italian spaghetti sauce that will dazzle your family and friends and bring you back to pasta dinners once a week.

After about an hour and a half, turn off your sauce and add fresh basil.  If you don't have fresh basil, take it from your spice cabinet and put in about 2 tsp of dried basil.

You can use it now or put it away for later.  It keeps for about 5 days in the fridge and freezes great.  Now remember when eating your pasta, find a good pecorino romano cheese. Please don't mess this up with a jar of cheese that comes off a shelf.  Ick!  Good cheese makes a difference.

Momma Ferraro's Spaghetti Sauce Recipe:

3 or 4 cans of Hunts whole peeled plum tomatoes
1 small can of Hunts plain tomato paste
1 large sweet onion
1 cup of vegetable oil/or olive oil  (olive oil is a little heavier...but better for you)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chopped garlic
Basil
Pecorino Romano cheese

Mangia! Eat. Enjoy.

Your family will thank you.

Paula