Marinara Sauce (Food & Wine, 1990)

This is marinara stripped to its bones: extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, fresh plum tomatoes, salt, pepper, and basil added right at the end. No onion, no oregano, no sugar. Southern Italian simplicity where the tomatoes do all the talking.

The garlic gets browned slowly in olive oil for about four minutes before the tomatoes go in, and the recipe gives you three approaches to choose from. Remove the cloves after browning for subtle flavor, leave them in whole until the end for more presence, or mince them and leave them in for full garlic punch.

Thirty minutes of uncovered simmering reduces the sauce until it holds its shape on a spoon. You want soft bits of tomato remaining, not a perfectly smooth puree. That texture is what tells you the sauce is properly thickened and still fresh-tasting.

Kitchen Tips

• Use a nonreactive skillet (stainless steel or enameled) as the recipe specifies. Aluminum or cast iron reacts with the tomato acid and can give the sauce a metallic taste.
• Seed and finely chop the Roma tomatoes before adding. Skipping the seeding step adds excess water and extends your cook time.
• Stir in fresh basil only at the very end. Cooking basil kills its fragrance and turns it dark.
• This sauce freezes for up to 3 months and refrigerates for 4 days. Make a double batch when tomatoes are in season.

Variations

• Puttanesca spin: Add capers, olives, and anchovy to the sauce during the last 10 minutes of simmering.
• Spicy marinara: Toss in red pepper flakes with the garlic for a kick of heat.