Basic Marinara Sauce

Photo: flickr user wEnDaLicious

Ingredients

1 medium to large onion diced

3 garlic cloves minced

1 red bell pepper diced

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 can mushroom pieces - (4 oz) drained

1 can whole tomatoes - (24 oz) chopped, and

the juice reserved

1 pound fresh tomatoes diced

1 can ripe olives - (4 oz) diced

1 can tomato paste - (6oz)

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

2 bay leaves

Preparation

Saute the onion, garlic, and red bell pepper in the oil in a large pot for 5 to 7 minutes. Add the mushrooms, canned tomatoes with the juice and fresh tomatoes, stirring well to combine all of the ingredients. Add the olives, then stir in the tomato paste. Sprinkle the sugar, salt, pepper, oregano and basil over the mixture and place the bay leaves in the pot. Mix well.

Bring the mixture to a boil, lower to simmer, cover, and cook about 2 hours. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

This recipe yields 3 to 4 cups.

Yield: 3 to 4 cups