Marinara w/ Fresh Tomatoes, Garlic, & Red Wine
This Red Wine Marinara consists of fresh tomatoes, garlic, yellow onion, smoked paprika (or red pepper flakes), and oregano. It's a simple, relatively hands off recipe. Just simmer the tomatoes for at least 45 minutes and stir occasionally.
Equipment
- Food Processor (optional)
- Sauté Pan
- Stovetop
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp. yellow onion minced
- splash olive oil
- 1 lbs. tomatoes fresh, diced or crushed
- dash smoked paprika (or red pepper flakes)
- dash salt
- dash pepper
- dash oregano (optional)
- 1/2 c. dry red wine
Instructions
- Add a splash of olive oil to a large pan over low heat. Sauté the garlic and onion until translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, paprika, salt, and pepper (everything except for the wine) and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes.Make sure to stir occasionally. This is one of those dishes where you want to keep a bit of an eye on it.
- Add the wine and simmer another 15 minutes.You can sauté the sauce anywhere from 45 minutes to several hours, depending on the consistency that you want. The longer you cook it down, the deeper the color and depth of flavor is going to be. Just don't add the wine too soon unless you're looking for a sweeter taste. Which a lot of people do like in their marinaras. If it gets too sweet, you can add spicy peppers or cayenne powder to help counteract it.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
- The more red wine you add and the sooner you add it, the sweeter the sauce will be. If you're a fan of a sweet marinara, adding more wine sooner in the cooking process will help. If you have less of a sweet tooth, adding less wine at the later stage of cooking will help.
- I don't add oregano to red sauces and marinaras because I'm allergic. Although some would probably consider that blasphemous. It's more important to make something that works for you than try to conform to what everyone else does!
- I use fresh, rather than canned tomatoes, which aren't going to be as bright a red as many marinaras typically are. You can substitute canned tomatoes. Although I like to use fresh as much as I can. After all, the tomatoes were once fresh before they were puréed, canned, and sat in the back of your pantry. Canned tomatoes are going to be darker because of the time sitting in the can. Whereas fresh tomatoes are going to have a brighter color. A longer cooking process and more red wine will also darken them.
- Optionally, add 1/4 cup of ground parmesan.