I’ve been making this for a VERY long time.  Actually, I came up with this when my daughter was in 7^th grade. They had a very nice teacher who had a kitchen class, and for a few years I would come in and do a demonstration (therefore, I was the Kitchen Class Clown).

I’d make a dish in 45 minutes, and the kids would help a bit and taste it a bit.  I’d make this marinara sauce, a ricotta cheese (heat whole milk plus salt, then add in lemon juice and strain once curdled), and finally ravioli (ricotta between 2 wonton skins, sealed with egg). I had a lot of fun showing off to the kids (yes, I won’t be coy about that), and embarrassing my daughter (added bonus!)

The thing is this – I use this recipe for just about everything now. I see no purpose in every buying Ragu.  Even though I use canned tomatoes, this seems to be much fresher than the alternatives. And I’ll bet it’s healthier.  Lastly, make a big batch – it can be frozen.

Ingredients:

• 1 28-oz. can petite diced tomatoes (or diced tomatoes, or 2-3 15-oz cans of fire-roasted tomatoes).
• ½ onion, diced
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced (use more or less to taste)
• 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• Dash of Red Pepper Flakes
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• About 1 cup of water (or water and red wine)

Recipe:

In a large covered skillet at medium heat, pre-heat the olive oil.  Then dump in the onion, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, a bit of salt and pepper, and sauté until translucent (not brown). About 3-4 minutes.

Add in the garlic and heat through for 1 minute or so. I like the garlic a bit on the raw side here.

Add the tomatoes and stir. Depending on how much juice there is in the tomato, add in water and/or wine. The purpose of the water is to prevent the dish from drying out as it reduces. You can always add more later.

Reduce heat to a medium-low simmer, and let the water reduce to a thicker consistency.

Things you can do with this sauce:

First, stuff you can add to change it up.

• Add in mushrooms, capers, olives, etc.
• Add in fresh herbs at the end (esp. Basil)
• Add in chopped up Preserved Lemons (see LarryLand Preserved Lemon) – this really changes the flavor with a lot of lemon tartness, which is great for stewing chicken)
• If it’s summer and you grow tomatoes, peel the tomatoes and use them instead.  I would suggest cooking for a very short period, as they’ll retain the fresh taste better.

Stuff you can do with it (beyond Pasta).

1. Pizza Sauce:  I don’t like thin pizza sauce; having some tomato chunks adds body to a pizza. See my Cast Iron Pizza recipe (see Cast-Iron Pizza)

2. Cheese Toasties (appetizer):  Take ½ of a ciabatta roll, or baguette, or whatever suits you.  Spread some of the sauce on top, maybe with some herbs, olives, etc. Add some cheese on top and bake at 375 for about 5-10 minutes.

3. Stew Stuff in it:  I love to do this:  Take 4-6 skin-on chicken thighs.  Cook them in a dutch oven or skillet skin side down until “mostly” cooked with crispy skin. Put them on a plate.  Add in the marinara sauce with Olives and Preserved Lemons, maybe a bit more red pepper flakes.  Just enough to come about half-way up the chicken thighs. Once heated up, put the thighs in skin-side up and finish cooking.

4. Bake Stuff in it:  See my eggplant parm recipe (see LarryLand Eggplant Parm).  You can do any sort of vegetable gratin with this as a sauce. I may try to do a Zucchini Lasagna this way.