Marinara Sauce

This is a recipe to use when you have too many tomatoes at the end of the season on your tomato vines. You can either just crush them for later use or make a big batch of marinara sauce to be used or added to later in the winter.

The whole secret to Marinara is to get the right consistency (not too thin and not too thick). It takes 5-6 hours cooking on low heat to make the sauce right.

chopped Green Pepper

chopped onions
chopped mushrooms
sweet basil leaves
oregano
minced clove Garlic (you can substitute garlic powder)
salt
pepper
crushed tomatoes (Italian Bell are best)
tomatoe paste
sugar

portions of the spices and sugar are a matter of taste

Step 1.

Combine the minced garlic, green pepper, onions, mushrooms and spices in a large pot and simmer in a small amount of oil.

Step 2:
Turn your flame down to medium.
Add your tomatoe paste and stir. Crush your tomatoes and add to mixture.
Add sugar to mixture to cut the acid content.
Simmer the sauce for 5-6 hours to thicken the sauce stirring often.
If your sauce does not thicken enough, you may add more paste.

Step3:
Ladle two or three large spoonfuls of sauce into a large serving bowl and pour prepared pasta into bowl.
Mix the sauce through the pasta until it is lightly coated with sauce -- this eliminates the pasta sticking together. If you need more sauce ladel additional sauce over your pasta and mix until the pasta is lightly coated and put on the table. Ladel additional sauce into another serving bowl for the table. Add grated cheese to the table and your are ready to mangia.