Maria's Favorite Marinara Recipes

Here you'll find two favorite marinara recipes. The first calls for fresh tomatoes and has a refreshing, fresh tomato taste. It's perfect for breadsticks, Italian bread, and focaccia. 

The second is made with a combination of sun dried tomatoes and canned tomatoes. It packs the punch of sun dried tomatoes. It's a great base for pizza and works well pasta.

Classic Italian Pizza Dough Mix

Herb and Garlic Focaccia Mix

Marinara Sauce for Fresh Tomatoes  

2 to 3 cups peeled and seeded Roma tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon crushed, dried oregano or a tablespoon of fresh
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves or two teaspoons fresh
2 tablespoons olive oil

Baker’s note: Alter the quantities of the garlic, oregano, and basil to suit your tastes. If you like more, add more.

Directions

Chop the seeded tomatoes in a food processor or blender. Cook the tomatoes along with the seasonings and sugar for ten minutes or until it starts to thicken, stirring frequently. Add the olive oil. Let cool.

How to Chop and Seed Tomatoes

1. Bring a pan of water to boil. Place four or five tomatoes at a time in the hot water and leave them in the bath for one minute. Remove them from the water and start another batch. Let the tomatoes cool to where you can handle them.

2. Peel the tomatoes by starting a small slit in the skin with a knife at the tip of a tomato. Grasp the edge of the skin and peel the skin from the tomato in strips. Repeat with each tomato.

3. Cut the stem end from each tomato. Cut the tomato in half. Squeeze the seeds from the tomato using your thumb to loosen the seeds as needed. If you are seeding Roma tomatoes, the outer flesh is about all that will remain. Repeat with all the tomatoes. Discard the seeds.

Marinara Sauce for Pizza or Pasta (Canned and Dried Tomatoes)

We prefer marina made with fresh tomatoes but sometimes, we just don’t have the time or the fresh tomatoes on hand. Now we add Tuscan Sun Dried Tomato Pieces.

Both fresh and canned tomatoes are 90% water. The more you cook the tomatoes, the less water and the more flavor. Adding to dried tomatoes to our marina sauce makes the flavor much more intense without all the cooking.

1 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
5 large garlic cloves, minced
3 28-ounce cans of diced tomatoes
1 cup Tuscan Sun Dried Tomato Pieces
2 teaspoons crushed, dried oregano
3 teaspoons crushed dried basil leaves
3/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste

Directions

Sauté the onions in the olive oil until soft. Add the garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Add the tomatoes, canned and dry, and the spices and continue cooking. Simmer for 20 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

You may serve this as is, chunky style. We prefer a smooth marina and put the sauce in a blender to puree.

This recipe makes a lot of sauce, about 2 quarts.