Marinara Sauce

My mother got this recipe from an Italian friend that she worked with in California during WWII. It's one of those recipes that can be put on the back burner to simmer and doesn't require a lot of fussing over. She would put a pot of this on the stove to cook and then start her weekly bread baking. The smells wafting out her kitchen window would draw the neighborhood kids to our house so she usually had quite a few extra mouths to feed. Recipe can easily be cut in half.

• Ready In: 5 hrs 10 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 10  cups whole canned tomatoes
• 4 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 4  bay leaves
• 2  teaspoons salt
• 2  tablespoons dried parsley
• 2  teaspoons dried oregano
• 2  tablespoons dried basil
• 4 -6  garlic cloves (to taste)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  chrushed  red pepper
• 2 -4  teaspoons sugar

Directions

1. Put tomatoes with their juice in large heavy kettle. Use a potato masher to break up.
2. Add tomato paste.
3. Rinse out tomato paste cans with water and add that water to the pot.
4. Add bay leaves, parsley, oregano, basil, garlic, red pepper & sugar.
5. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat so sauce will simmer gently.
6. Simmer for 3-5 hours, stirring occasionally. The longer this sauce cooks, the better it tastes.
7. Add a small amount of boiling water if sauce seems to be too thick. We like our sauce fairly thick.
8. You may add browned ground beef when the sauce is ready or your favorite meatball.
9. Serve over your favorite cooked pasta.
10. It's also a wonderful sauce for lasagne.