Rao's Marinara Sauce

Submitted by Danny Sneade

"I got this receipe from Martha Stewart's website. This great recipe is from "Rao's Cookbook" by Frank Pellegrino. This stuff sells for $7.50 a quart in Florida. I use it with Frankie's Meatball s recipe found here on Recipezaar. This is the "real deal.""

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 7
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• 112 ounces tomatoes with basil, whole and canned
• 1⁄2 cup olive oil
• 6 tablespoons onions, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt and pepper, freshly gound
• 12 fresh basil, torn (optional)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon oregano

directions

1. Remove tomatoes from can and place in a large bowl, reserving juices. Crush tomatoes using your hands; remove and discard the hard core from stem end, and any skin and tough membrance, set aside.
2. Place oil in a large, nonreactive saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion, and cook until soft and just beginning to brown, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic, and cook until softened, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes and reserved juices, season with sale, increase heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to low and simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 hour.
3. Stir in basil, if using, oregano, and season with pepper, continue cooking 1 minute more. Remove from heat and serve.

Reviews

[IrishEyes.NYC]

DEE-LISH-US!!! Tastes so close to the real deal, which is about $7.99 a jar in the NYC area. Used a #10 can of crushed tomatoes in puree; 1 tsp. onion powder in place of fresh; 1/2 tsp. garlic powder instead of cloves; and 2 tsp. dried basil instead of fresh. Simmered about three hours all together. Watched it vanish in minutes...didn't see my kids come up for air until they asked for second helpings. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[Nedley Meyers]

I followed recipe exactly. It tasted like slightly undercooked tomatoes. It needs far more oregano (1/4 teaspoon? really?) and at least double the onions. I also suggest letting the onions sweat for 20 minutes before adding garlic as this lets the natural sugars of the onions come out. Two hours cooking over the low heat would have helped also. There are hundreds of better tomato sauce recipes out there.

 

[PAT M.]

A very easy, quik sauce to make that tastes heavenly. The flavor essence is "tomato-ish" w/the basil, onions & garlic supporting the base, just as a true marinara should taste.. I add more diced onion & garlic, as I like my sauce this way. I've used San Marzano tomatoes & it's great w/them. However, I often use Walmart crushed tomatoes mixed w/diced tomatoes & the sauce is still excellent. I've purchased "Rao's Cookbook" & it's worth every penny as it contains lots of other simple, classic Italian recipes.

 

[Diane S]

I made this recipe with what I had in the cabinet. 2 cans of whole tomatoes and two cans of crushed. The reason is I did not have the higher end tomatoes in puree. Because I wanted the sauce to be think and I did not think the tomatoes in their juice would thicken it. It was very good. I will be using some of it to make clam sauce..it should turn out great.

 

[A Good Thing]

Oh my goodness this was so easy and utterly delightful! I added some fresh slices of grilled zucchini on top and it made for a most excellent lunch today. Would be a match made in heaven if enjoyed with fried mozzarella sticks. (-; Made and thoroughly enjoyed for 'Pick A Chef' Spring 2010.