Marinara

Steps

In a large sauce pan, sauté the onions until translucent over medium heat.  At the end add the garlic.  Fill your sink or a bowl with hot water.  In batches of 8 add the tomatoes.  The skins will pop and you can peel the skins right off and put the tomato in the sauce pan.  Once all tomatoes are in the pot, cover until the tomatoes are softened.  Once the mixture begins to boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Using your hand blender, zap the mixture until smooth.  Add the Italian seasoning, Kosher salt and fresh basil.  At this point, you can use this Marinara on Angel Hair Pasta (Chad and Max’s favorite), or as a dip alongside garlic toast (my favorite).  You can use it on Spaghetti Squash, in Lasagna or as a pizza sauce.  You can add browned hamburger or Italian sausage to it to make it a heartier meal.   I can quart jars of this sauce every year and at this stage, I put it in the sterilized jars and process in my pressure cooker per the manufacturer’s recommendations.  It is amazing to pull a jar out in the middle of the winter and taste the fresh summer bounty of tomatoes.  Sunshine in a jar…