Saturday, September 22, 2012

Fresh Marinara Sauce

Working on a giant batch of this right now.

http://christineinportland.com/2009/09/canning-recipe-marinara-sauce/

Here is the recipe duplicated in full, in the sad case that that site ever goes down.  This time, we used pre-peeled garlic from the store, and I did a very rough chop on the tomatoes.  It's gonna be delicious.  We also go the lazy route and freeze it instead of canning it.

Marinara sauce
Yield: 9 quarts
Active work: 2 hours
Total time: 6.5 hours+-
Ingredients:
1/2 c olive oil
3 lbs white or yellow onions, chopped
20 lbs tomatoes
3/4 c freshly chopped garlic
1 bottle red wine (try a cab)
1/4 cup sea salt
lots of black pepper
1/4 c dried oregano
3 c fresh herbs (try parsley, basil, and Greek oregano)
1 1/2 c bottled lemon juice*
Aviation gin, a couple of limes, some sparkling water, and ice

Destructions:
In a really, really large pot that’s stainless steel, begin caramelizing the onions in the olive oil. Heat should be medium to medium low. Adjust the heat on the onions as necessary so you don’t incinerate them. Don’t forget to stir them occasionally.

During the 45+ minutes that will take, roughly chop the tomatoes. Peeling and seeding is optional.

Fill a large glass with ice. Pour a shot of gin over it, squeeze a half of a lime in, and top off with sparking water. Give a gentle stir. Begin drinking. There’s not much chopping left.

When the onions are caramelized and smell like awesome, throw in your garlic and saute for no more than two minutes, until the garlic just begins to turn golden.

Add the chopped tomatoes, the wine, the salt, and the pepper to the onions. Stir a bit. Measure out the dried oregano and briefly crush between your palms before adding to the pot.

Simmer the sauce until it’s reduced by a quarter to one third. This will take 3-4 hours.  During that time, you can nap, pull out the remnants of the lemon cucumber plants, or drink the rest of the gin. It’s all up to you.

At the three hour mark or so, begin sterilizing your jars. Hurray, dishwashers! Also, heat up water in the other humongous pot you happen to have around the house.  It should be deep enough to conceivably cover lots of jars with about an inch to spare once their mass is displaced. Your lids shouldn’t be boiled, but rather heated gently in water so they are clean and stuff.

Process the fresh herbs with the lemon juice until chopped, about 15-20 1-second spins in ye olde Cuisinart.

Add the herbs and lemon juice to the tomatoes and simmer for 5 more minutes.

Fill your sterilized jars, working one at a time, leaving about a half inch of head space. Wipe down rims, center the lid, and screw on the ring until it’s finger tight. Oh yeah, baby.

Process the jars of sauce in boiling water for 35 minutes. Turn off heat, let them rest in the water for five minutes, then remove them and place them on a towel in a draft-free area. Let them rest for 24 hours.

Check and make sure they have sealed. If they have, you can remove the ring (if you want to) and store them in a dark, cool place. If they haven’t sealed, you’re pretty much screwed, since the weekend is shot and you may or may not have time to re-process half-spoiled marinara sauce.

I don’t know, though, since all of mine sealed and are now sitting happily in the kitchen. There was an extra cup or so that was really, really delicious. I ate a good portion of it using potato chips as a spoon. Ummmm…yeah.

*Why bottled lemon juice? Because it’s a known acidity, unlike fresh lemons or limes. Yeah, I initially revolted at that one too.

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