home made marinara
I've been trying to be very conscious lately about the food I buy. I'm trying to buy organic if at all possible lately. Especially produce with thin skins that absorb pesticides., like tomatoes and apples. In the end I believe the only way to change the way food is grown and produced in America is by the food we choose to buy at the store. If cheap food filled with pesticides, genetically modified substances, and foreign chemicals are the foods being bought, then that will be the foods being sold. I think we vote three times a day on what kind of food we want sold, so when ever possible I promote locally and organically grown produce. In honor of organic, I made my home-made marinara, all ingredients certified organic. All of us who live in Florida are aware of how flavorless locally grown tomatoes can be. The summer sun sucks the moisture out of the thin skinned fruit, so most tomatoes sold in the grocery stores are ripened off the vine with nitrogen gas. Yuck! They are bitter, watery and lack any depth to their flavors. I however went out of my way to hunt down some organic, locally grown in the green house tomatoes. Might be the only way to get a good tomato in Florida that isn't imported.
Ingredients
- 5 - fresh tomatoes, chopped 1 inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 cans fresh parsley, chopped
- 5 - fresh basil leaves, chiffonade
- 1 - whole fresh basil leaf
- 5 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 - red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 small sweet onion, chopped
How To Make home made marinara
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Step 1In a hot sauce pan, pour extra-virgin olive oil.
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Step 2Let oil smoke over medium high heat.
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Step 3Add garlic, once garlic sweats add onion. Cook both until translucent.
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Step 4Stir in tomatoes and bell pepper, add whole basil leaf and stew covered on medium-low heat for 1 1/2 hours.
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Step 5Bring heat up to medium. Add parsley and stir for 5 minutes.
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Step 6With immersion blender, blend completely smooth. (unless you a prefer chunky marinara of course.)
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Step 7Add chiffonade basil and stir.
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Step 8Set to low heat.
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Step 9Serve hot over pasta, or cold as a dipping sauce.
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