marinara recipe?..mine always tastes like spagetti sauce.

[Spongegirl]

I have googled and googled for a marinara recipe that taste like marinara or pizza sauce. Like Ragu. When I try it out it always tastes like spagetti sauce. Anyone know what makes it marinara?

[cynthia_h]

"Marinara" meant that the sauce was a basic one, ready to accept the Catch of the Day (mariners / marine life / marinara). It's usually just garlic, onion, tomato, and some seasonings. Mushrooms if you have 'em.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[webmaster]

Epicurious is a pretty good source of information. Here's their [url=https://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/entry/?id=4172]definition of Ragu[/url]:

A staple of northern Italy's Bologna, ragu is a meat sauce that is typically served with pasta... Ragu usually contains ground beef, tomatoes, onions, celery, carrots, white wine and seasonings.

And another [url=https://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/entry?id=1468]description of Ragu alla Bolognese here[/url]:

Bolognese refers to dishes served with a thick, full-bodied meat and vegetable sauce enhanced with wine and milk or cream...The Italian term for this sauce is ragu Bolognese, or often simply ragu.

La Cucina Italiana is one of my favorite magazines that I subscribe to. Here is their recipe for [url=https://lacucinaitalianamagazine.com/recipe/ragu-alla-bolognese]ragù alla bolognese[/url]

[img]https://lacucinaitalianamagazine.com/images/photo/file/662/bolognese-for-web.jpg[/img]

Not a traditional Italian pasta recipe. Maybe not what you're looking for. But my family really likes it. A lot.... It's my get out of jail card.

This recipe makes enough for three servings plus extras.

Sautee chopped onions then chopped garlic. Remove.

Code: Select all

A note about the ground meat. I have very recently begun altering the recipe by adding in about a third of a pound of chicken sausage (one large raw and uncured sausage). For three people, I use a half pound of ground meat  plus a mild Italian chicken sausage or for something really different which would no doubt offend Italian purists, for something different I use a mild chicken Andouille sausage (my kid doesn't like spicy food). Just cut the skin and mix the sausage together with the ground meat. 

Then sautee ground meat (grass fed beef or ground organic chicken) in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. (I encourage the use of grass fed beef because it's healthier for you than corn fed beef, is better for the environment as grass fed beef aren't in a factory setting, and better for the cows) When done remove, drain excess grease from pan, then add a 28 oz can of ground/crushed tomatoes (or whole tomatoes with sauce/juice). If whole tomatoes be sure to crush with a wooden spoon or something. You can add a small very small amount of milk if you like, not too much, but it's optional. Not optional is to add a small 4 oz can of tomato paste plus a 14 oz can of whole tomatoes. The tomato paste will keep the pasta from becoming watery. A shot of vodka is optional but welcome.

Bring to a simmer and let it simmer on low to medium low for about twenty minutes, with a single Bay Leaf or two small ones. At this point you can reintroduce the onions, garlic, ground meat and a few dashes of black pepper.

Keep an eye on the sauce to make sure it doesn't boil because this will make it bitter and overly acidic. The simmering is for melding the flavors together. If the sauce looks too watery then add more tomato paste. If it's too thick then add a little milk.

While it's simmering you can also add a few chunks of Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano. Stir every few minutes to keep the sauce from sticking to the bottom but also to get all the flavors mixed together.

A few minutes before the sauce is ready you should then introduce the spices, dried basil and oregano. I introduce the spices at the end because they tend to lose their kick if introduced too early in the process.

Taste the sauce. If it needs more spices toss in some more. If it tastes a little bitter, and it usually does, add sugar. Add half a teaspoon at a time, mix it all around, allow a minute or two for it to permeate sufficiently then taste it. Don't add too much, though.

[Spongegirl]

that sounds delicious thanks. I am gonna have to try that one. and I am on the same page as you with the grass fed beef. we cant get it here and so I don't even use beef anymore. I try and live as organic as possible. and thank you for taking the time in sharing!

all I am really looking for is a simple pizza sauce that I can make from my tomatoes. I would think it would be easy to do except all the recipes that I have found online still end up tasting like spagetti sauce. there has to be some key ingredient that makes the plain marinara just plain marinara.

[TZ -OH6]

This is a very good recipe for pizza sauce that tastes like pizzaria pizza sauce to me. It is also a good pasta sauce if more tomatoes/less paste is used. I usually double the amount of canned tomato sauce it calls for even for the pizza sauce.

https://www.food.com/recipe/ultimate-pizza-sauce-114392


Pretty much all sauces from home grown tomatoes will taste vastly different from commercial sauces because of the increased flavor of the tomatoes both due to variety and quality. Adding canned tomato paste as a thickener will ruin that flavor.



My personal quick sauce is as follows

1 half gallon of frozen cooked down tomato sauce. This starts out as a gallon of fresh tomatoes (I prefer beefsteaks and hearts over paste-roma varieties). I like to use an immersion hand blender to smooth it out while it is cooking but it is good chunky too. Goes into gallon ziplock bags (1/2 gallon sauce) which lie flat in freezer (they stack well).

1 med onion
3-4 cloves garlic (or equivalent powder)
1 tsp each of dried basil, oregano, thyme
1-2 bay leaves

1-lb ground Italian sausage (or 1 tsp ground/chopped fennel seed and olive oil) If using the sausage you don't neeed the oil for sauteeing the vegetables. The sausage contains fennel.

salt to taste
add sugar to taste if tomatoes are not sweet enough

1 heaping Tbs corn starch in 1/4 cup cold water. Add at end to bind water.

Brown the sausage and add vegetables and seasonings. Cook until onions clear and then add tomatoes. Simmer for 1/2 hour to blend flavors. Stir in corn starch solution to bubbling sauce and remove from heat. Makes enough sauce for a standard box/package (1 lb?) of short (I.e bow ties, zitti) or long (spaghetti, linguini) pasta.

[bjwam]

I use San Marzano plum tomatoes. I crush them with my hand, chop up some garlic, basil and mix in a bowl. Add some olive oil, salt, and pepper and you're good to go. The key is to spread the raw ingredients directly on the pizza dough. In other words let the sauce cook on the pizza. I have found that it not only tastes fresher but fruitier too.

Good luck, my pizzas are ten times better!