marinara...

...it's what's for dinner.

tonight, marian has a friend here for a sleepover,

so she requested a special dinner:

pasta with homemade marinara

it's a small thing, really,

but it warms my heart that my 10-year-old

1. notices what i cook

2. likes what i cook

3. thinks it's special enough to serve company.

the recipe came from giada,

but over the years i have made a few changes.
i wanted the recipe to be easy to divide,
for times when i only have 1 can of tomatoes
or only 1 onion
or only a little bit of olive oil left.
i streamlined the recipe to have 4 of everything
(or 1 cup of olive oil, which is really 4/4 cup).
it's funny, though, because i just peeked at the online recipe
and it seems that she made the very same changes.
oh, well...
it was her recipe, and it still is.
marinara sauce
ingredients:

1 cup olive oil
4 onions - chopped
4 garlic cloves - minced
4 celery stalks - chopped
4 carrots - chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4 cans of tomatoes (i use 28 oz cans, san marzano variety)
4 bay leaves
directions:
heat olive oil in your biggest, heaviest soup pot.
saute onions & garlic with some salt & pepper (10 min).

add celery & carrots with more salt & pepper (10 min).

add tomatoes & bay leaves.

~simmer~stir~simmer~stir~simmer~
(one hour? two hours? more? do what you like.)
REMOVE BAY LEAVES
(did you remove the bay leaves?)
using a stick blender, blend until smooth.

adjust salt & pepper.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
at this point, i take out what i need for dinner,
warm some cream & whisk it in with loads of grated parmesan.
i freeze the rest for future pasta dinners
& also for pizza (recipe coming soon).
mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....
♥