Emily gave me Giada's marinara recipe a few months ago and I am seriously in love. So simple and so delicious. Most pasta sauce from a jar tastes blah to me and the good stuff is way too expensive. So here is the solution: About once every 6 weeks make Giada's recipe (doubled). Freeze a bunch and you will have it on hand. We have pasta, bread and salad every Monday. The kiddos all love this meal and it is easy to prepare. If you buy a #10can of diced or crushed tomatoes you save even more money (these cost $2.79 at Costco).
Ingredients:
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 small onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 stalks celery, finely chopped
4 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 #10 can crushed or diced tomatoes plus 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
4 dried bay leaves
In a large casserole pot, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves, and simmer uncovered over low heat until the sauce thickens, about 1 hour. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season the sauce with more salt and pepper, to taste. I don't chop everything super small and so at the end I use my immersion hand blender to blend it up right in the pan.
Freeze remaing sauce in tupperware for future fantastic meals. We love this dinner with Artisan bread and a basic salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. (I just started making this because I'm sick of throwing away salad dressing from the store). Here's the recipe:
1/2 cup olive oil
3 T Balsamic vinegar
few shakes of salt and pepper
