Pasta Marinara

Everybody (well, almost everbody) loves a big bowl of pasta with marinara sauce.  Here is an easy recipe to make the sauce from scratch along with a few ways to change it up.  For the basic marinara, you will need:

6-7 large roma tomatoes, quartered
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Warm the oil over medium heat.  Add the garlic and saute for about a minute.  Don't burn the garlic or it will become bitter.  Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper.  Cook for about 5 minutes covered.  Add the basil, recover, and cook just a minute longer.  The tomatoes should be soft.  With an immersion blender (or in a food processor) mix until all large pieces are gone.  Pour over some freshly cooked pasta of your choice.  That's it!  It only takes about 10 minutes, start to finish, to make.  Once you try it, you will never go back to jarred or canned sauce!

Variations:

I often get a combination of vegetables to saute and add to the top of pasta.  You can use any vegetables you want.  I typically use a combination of mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, mexican squash, asparagus, or broccoli.  Chop the vegetables into bite size pieces and saute in 1 tbsp olive oil until soft.  Add salt and pepper to taste while cooking.  Sprinkle the pasta with freshly grated parmesan cheese

You can also add toasted nuts, such as pine nuts, to the above vegetables for some additional crunch.

If you like cream sauce, make the marinara and place back into the pan.  Add about 2-3 tbsp heavy cream.  Another great way to add creaminess to your sauce is with goat cheese.  Crumble a little bit over the warm sauce.  It will easily melt in and be delicious!

Serve with a fresh loaf of french bread to soak up all that delicious sauce!