Light and Healthy Vegetarian Marinara Sauce
This is a staple at our house. Whenever we need to throw together a quick meal, we often use the sauce to make the meal come together. We use to make a quick chicken marinara pasta or chicken parmesan. River recently used it to make a Shrimp fra Diavlo, you can also serve it as a dipping sauce for polenta.
I put extra veggies to make it even tastier as well as healthy too. This sauce is rich in vitamins and antioxidants, not to mention a healthy dose of vegetable fiber.
I make a "vat" of this sauce but it just doesn't seem to last too long. You can freeze this sauce for up to six months. I recommend you freeze it in 1-2 cup portions so that you can use as little as you want, it thaws quicker too.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup of chopped herbs (parsley, basil, oregano). The mix just depends on what you might have or your personal taste.
- 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 medium carrot or 2 small carrots coarsely chopped
- 3 stalks of celery coarsley chopped
- 3 cans(28 oz. each) of whole peeled tomatoes
- 2 tbsp of minced garlic
- 1-2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp of dried oregano
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 cup of white zinfandel wine
- ground black pepper to taste
- pinch of sugar
Directions:
- Using a food processor, finely grind the carrots and celery.
- Coat the bottom of a large sauce pan with olive oil With the heat on medium, heat oil until it starts to shimmer, add the onions and cook until lightly brown and wilted.
- Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Add the carrots and celery and cook for a few minutes.
- Add the 2/3 of the herb mixture, the dried oregano, and bay leaves. Mix them in and cook for a few minutes.
- Add the wine which will quickly evaporate. Turn the heat down to low.
- Add a can of the tomatoes one at a time. Use a spatula or potato masher to break up the tomotoes slightly.
- Add the salt and let the sauce simmer on low. Do not allow the sauce to boil.
- The sauce tastes best when left to simmer for a few hours. Stir periodically.
- Towards the end of the cooking, add the remainder of the herbs and continue to simmer.
- This is optional, but if you want a more smooth sauce, use a hand blender and puree until smooth.
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