A different Marinara Sauce

I found this recipe on the Food network web site. You know me, I love to try out recipes and this one looked yummy. Jim had a pasta sauce in his runner's magazine, this was similar, but this one had more seasonings in it, so I thought I'd give this a try. I made Spaghetti and meatballs with it! Yum!! I also put mine together in a crockpot and let simmer all afternoon while I was at church, then I got my meatballs cooking and finished the sauce. Yum!! I didn't take a picture of this sauce separately.... But it's in the Spaghetti and Meatball post above. This is a thicker, hearty marinara sauce.


Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:
5 cloves garlic
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 large onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 can tomato paste
1 cup fresh basil leaves ( or I used a couple of Tablespoons of the chopped basil in the tube, I find this in the produce section of Walmart) or you can use 1 teaspoon dried basil
2 tablespoons freshly picked oregano leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried oregano)
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 (14-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
Chicken broth
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Peel 5 cloves garlic and place them in a square of foil. Sprinkle the cloves with salt and pepper and drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Wrap up the foil and place it directly on the oven rack. (Be sure that the foil packet is secure so no oil will leak out.) Roast the garlic until it's brown and tender, about 25 minutes. Allow to cool enough to touch and squeeze the garlic from the skins. Set aside. (This makes the garlic a little sweeter... Yum!)

Saute onions and carrots with the oil in a medium saucepan. Add tomato paste and stir well. This will cook off the tomato paste and give a nice orangy color. Cook for about 10 minutes. When vegetables are softened add the roasted garlic, salt, pepper, basil, oregano and parsley, and stir together until incorporated. Pour in the tomatoes. Fill the empty can with water and add it to the pan, then fill with chicken broth and add to the pan. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour, uncovered. Stir occasionally. Once sauce is ready carefully pour it into the food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

Tips:
- This makes a lot of sauce so you can pour about half into ice cube trays and freeze for future use. By putting them in ice cube trays then popping them out into a resealable bag you can control how much you want to use each time - easier to manage. Or you can just freeze half in a freezer bag or tupperware for later use.
- Since tomatoes can be very acidic, using carrots and roasted garlic brings a sweetness to the marinara. Also that's why I added 1 teaspoon of sugar as well. Yum!