I love preserving the food I grow. In fact, you make call it a hobby of mine. Yes, it may be nerdy. It may be old-person like. But I love it. And even though I love it, at the end of the growing season when I have another huge pile of produce staring at me waiting for me to do something with, I sometimes start to not love it so much.
And so it was with my giant pile of tomatoes. I have already canned 3 different kinds of marinara sauce, 2 kinds of salsa, whole tomatoes, and chili base. I was so sick of blanching and peeling tomatoes that I was tempted just to make my family eat them all raw. But then I had an idea. A crazy idea. What if I made marinara sauce, and didn’t can it? Just made it fresh and then froze it so I could make any recipe and not follow any canning rules???
So that is exactly what I did. And this is what I came up with.
It was by far the easiest marinara sauce I have ever made……….considering it was completely from scratch. These are the steps.
First rinse your tomatoes.
Next cut them into quarters and place in your food processor.
Next chop green bell pepper, celery, onion, garlic, fresh basil and oregano in your food processor. You don’t even have to rinse it out after you chop the tomatoes. It is all going into the same pot anyway!
You will then add a few more ingredients (see recipe below) simmer for 30 minutes or so…………and then enjoy with some freshly grated Parmesan. This sauce was savory, thick, and delicious. We like ours a bit chunky, but if you don’t you can always put it in the blender to make it a more smooth consistency.
And then………because it makes so much………put the rest into a freezer safe container. Then the next time you want delicious, fresh, chunky homemade marinara sauce it will be even easier than it was the first time.
Fresh and Easy Homemade Marinara Sauce
Ingredients
- 25 medium whole (2-3/5″ dia) tomato, red
- 2 medium (2-1/2″ dia) onion
- 2 medium (approx 2-3/4″ long, 2-1/2″ dia) bell pepper, green
- 4 stalk, medium (7-1/2″ – 8″ long) celery
- 1 pepper peppers, jalapeño
- 4 clove garlic
- 2 cup leaves, whole basil, fresh
- 2 tsp, leaves OREGANO, DRIED
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 4 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp, ground black pepper, ground
- 1/4 cup vinegar, distilled
Instructions
- Blend in a food processor or blender: tomatoes, onions, green peppers, celery, jalapeno, and garlic. Add to a large pot.
- Then blend basil and oregano.
- Add all of the ingredients to your pot; bring to a boil.
- Turn heat to medium and simmer 30 minutes. Stir every few minutes to prevent burning.
- When serving add, 1 Tbsp pesto, 1/2 cup parmesan, and 1/2 cup spinach.
