I’ve already made the Italian readers mad once before when I posted my recipe for Buutik Tiramisu, which was apparently too far off form the original to even be considered tiramisu. 🙂 But you know what, I’m going to risk it again by sharing my recipe for this AMAZING marinara sauce… and it only takes 15 minutes.

We all know I’m not Italian. But my mom used to make marinara sauce every day in our kitchen for an Italian-owned and operated restaurant using their heirloom recipe, so I spent years (or so it felt) of my time with my hands in garlic and basil and crushed tomatoes. My family knows a little something about marinara, okay?

So here it goes…

1 lg can crushed tomatoes
4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thym
pinch of salt
splash of balsamic vinegar
fat drizzle of honey
small fistful of fresh basil leaves, snipped
splash of olive oil

In a heavy pan (cast iron if you have it), heat the olive oil over medium. Add the crushed garlic and stir, cooking until just barely yellow. Don’t let it burn! Add in the tomatoes, oregano, thyme, salt, balsamic vinegar and honey. Stir and let simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Add the fresh basil and let cook a few more minutes.

That is all. (Unless you want to add 1-2 cube of frozen puréed spinach, like I do…)

Makes amazing sauce for pizza, spaghetti, lasagne, breadsticks…