Today I made Fresh Spicy Marinara Sauce from scratch. I found some beautiful plum tomatoes on sale for 59 cents a pound and could not resist them. I bought twenty one pounds. I should have bought more.
This is what twenty one pounds of tomatoes look like. I decided I would make Fresh Spicy Marinara Sauce with half of them and Homemade Tomato Paste with the rest. I got up early this morning and began.
I started by boiling water in a large pot. Once there was a rolling boil I added about four pounds of tomatoes to the pot. I let them sit in the boiling water until their skin cracked, this takes only a few minutes. Once the skin cracked I removed this batch of tomatoes and added another batch until all the tomatoes had been bathed in boiling water.
Then I began the task of removing the tomato skins. This took awhile, but I kept going until all twenty one pounds were skinned.
At this point I separated the tomatoes into two batches. One for the Fresh Spicy Marinara Sauce and one for the Homemade Tomato Paste. Today I am going to share with you the Fresh Spicy Marinara Sauce.
You will need the following ingredients:
- 11 pounds of plum tomatoes, skinned
- 1 sprig of fresh basil
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 small head of garlic
- 2 tablespoons of dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon of sea salt
- 2 teaspoons of pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 lemon (needed only if you are canning)
Dice the tomatoes and place them into a large pot and begin cooking over medium heat.
Once you have the tomatoes started, peel the garlic and slice it into small pieces. In a separate pan saute the garlic in olive oil. Once the garlic has browned, add it to the cooking tomatoes along with all other ingredients except the basil. Stir well and continue cooking. Place the fresh basil on top of cooking tomatoes (do not cut or chop the basil), just let it sit on top of the cooking tomatoes.
Continue cooking for at least one hour until you have the desired consistence. Don’t forget to taste your sauce as you go and add additional spices if needed. If the sauce is too chunky for you, process it in a food blender or processor. I processed about half of my sauce in a food processor on low. Remove and discard the basil. Enjoy.
My Fresh Spicy Marinara Sauce was finished in time for lunch. I served it over angel hair pasta garnished with fresh basil. Yum. Yum.
I canned eight one pint bottles of the Spicy Marinara Sauce for use later. You only need to add the juice of one lemon to your sauce if you are going to can it.
Hope you enjoyed this recipe. Sometime soon I will share the Homemade Tomato Paste.