My boyfriend, James, loves to talk about his mother's cooking. I mean, he talks about it non-stop. While he definitely appreciates my meals, when I go to make ANY recipe for the first time, he tells me that his mom makes it the best, she uses X brand of this, she always uses this method, etc. I've had his mom's cooking...
...and he's not exaggerating. His mom is a miracle worker in the kitchen. She sets the bar almost impossibly high, despite the fact that cooking has seriously become my life. To make matters even more interesting, James now seems to challenge me to cook things that his mother is best known for.
For example, James' birthday was coming up, and I asked him what he wanted. "My mom is making me sauce," he said. "Okay, I didn't ask that. What do you want?" I asked, trying to be patient. "You should make me sauce, too."
At first, I vehemently declined. I wasn't going to be part of this game; No way. I've heard James talk about his mother's sauce for our entire relationship, and I was not about to challenge it. However, after a few days, I started to get curious. I was sure I couldn't out-do his mother's sauce, but could I make one that at least had a leg to stand on in comparison? I felt an obligation to find out. After all, I'd never be able to make awesome sauce if I didn't at least try.
I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that this sauce blew his mother's out of the water, because that's just crazy talk. You're so funny to have even thought that that was where I was headed with this. Pfft. But James really did love it. I'm not sure how it actually compared in the imaginary contest (of which his mother had no idea), because he was all over the place in his attempts to rank every homemade sauce he has ever eaten, changing his mind a hundred times. Regardless, I will say that this is the best sauce I have ever eaten. By far.
Try this sauce, and let me know how it stacks up next to your significant other's mom's cooking. Does it hold a candle to her recipe? I think you'll find that it does. Let us know in the comments. Feel free to post your own sauce recipes as well!
Marinara Sauce
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Description
This flavorful marinara sauce doesn't take all day to make, but has great flavor. Everyone will be asking you for your recipe!
Ingredients
- 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
- 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ⅓ cup onion, finely diced
- ⅓ cup white wine
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, blend the tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes, basil, brown sugar, salt, and pepper until smooth with a few chunks.
- Add the olive oil to a large, deep-walled skillet over medium heat, and sauté the onion and garlic until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Then, add in the blended sauce and the wine.
- Lower the heat to simmer and let cook for an hour, stirring occasionally.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Sauce
- Cuisine: Italian
Claire says
This sauce was amazing!! First attempt at making meatballs and marinara today and family members were leaving with print outs of the recipe! Thanks a million 😉
Morgan says
I'm so glad to hear it, Claire! Thanks for letting me know!
Taylor says
Great recipe! I found this blog from a recent reddit post! I never measure anything out when I cook Italian, but I approximated and used all the same ingredients (minus the tomato paste because I didn't have any- I had to cook it an extra 30 minutes to make up for the thickness) and method, and it turned out to be the best marinara I've made yet! I'm sure I'll be making this again in the future. It's 10x better than anything in a jar, that's for sure.