Marinara Sauce

            This sauce is from Southern Italy and is usually made with tomatoes, garlic, onions, herbs, and sometimes some type of seafood.  Marinara comes from the word marine, therefore indicating some seafood was within the dish.  Today’s marinara sauces still include the basic ingredients, but not necessarily the seafood.  Actually a good sauce can be made in less than 30 minutes!  It has a bright fresh taste even with this small amount of cooking time.   If you don’t like the small chunks of vegetables within the sauce you can use an immersion blender to smooth is out.  Also the reason why I use a large saute pan instead of a  sauce pan is because the larger surface area allows for evaporation to take place at a faster speed to thicken the sauce .  Tomatoes contain lycopene which is a powerful antioxidant.  It seems that more of this wonderful chemical gets absorbed from the digestive system when the tomatoes are cooked and a bit of olive oil is added at the end.  The oil helps to further breakdown the lycopene so it is readily absorbed into our cells.  In other words,  for a healthy immune system serve up the red sauce often! 

2 T butter
I medium onion chopped fine
1 carrot chopped fine
1 stalk celery chopped fine
½ tsp. dried oregano
2 cloves garlic minced or put through the garlic press
heavy pinch of kosher or sea salt
ground pepper
3 28-oz. cans crushed tomatoes (Tuttorosso or Muir Glen preferred)
½ tsp. sugar
1/2 C red wine (Merlot)
2 T chopped basil leaves
1 T olive oil

Heat a large sauté or frying pan over medium high heat and add butter.
Add carrots and celery and sauté for 4 minutes or until they are starting to get tender.
Add onions and oregano and cook until onions are tender and golden brown.  Add garlic and heat for 30 seconds.  Add salt and pepper.
Add crushed tomatoes and sugar.  Increase heat to high and bring to a simmer until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes.
Take off the heat add basil, oil, and stir.  Let sit for a few minutes and serve.