Mama’s Marinara

There is a special magic in food. It instantly connects us to visceral feelings of home. A bite of Grandma’s Eggplant Parmesan, a sip of Dad’s Polish Mushroom Soup. A dear Buddhist nun once passed along this observation from a lama: “The food you eat when you are a child becomes medicine for you as an adult.”

My mother, Lorraine, passed away in February, and as summer’s tomatoes filled my kitchen this year, I crushed and peeled them myself to make her delicious simmered sauce. Italian women rarely share their recipes, but for me, this is such good medicine, I can’t keep it to myself. I love you Mom, I really really love you.

Ingredients

4 tbsp good quality olive oil
¾ - 1½ clove garlic, minced fine
4-6 cans Italian whole tomatoes or 12-14 cups of peeled tomatoes with juices
Salt and pepper
Italian seasoning (dried from the store works great)
Dried basil
1-2 teaspoons sugar

Some families use onion and garlic; I use garlic alone. You can use fresh herbs, however I find dried create a richness after simmering all day. Make it your own and pass it down to future generations.

Method

The trick for this sauce is patience and timing.

Place a large stockpot over medium heat until heated, about 3 minutes. Add olive oil and swirl around the bottom. Add garlic, sauté until it just starts to brown, then remove from heat. Continue moving garlic as it will continue to brown, but do not let it become crispy and overcooked or it will turn bitter.

Carefully handle your hot pot (I put mine in the sink for this process) and place a colander on top. It should not fall into the pot, but sit well on top. Make sure your colander’s holes are wide enough to press tomatoes through.

Add one or two cans at a time and really squeeze and press them into the bottom of the colander (be careful of your knuckles!). Swirl them around, until an ultra-crushed tomato sauce accumulates in the pot below. Do this until you have used all your whole tomatoes. I end up throwing about ¼ cup or less into the compost from the colander that consists of tougher pieces that would not crush well.

Return pot to the stove and bring to a slow boil. Just as bubbles begin to appear, season your sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste, about 2 tablespoons of dried Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon of dried basil. I like to pour the dried herbs in my hand and rub them together to form a dried herb powder. Stir well. You can add more herbs if you wish but don’t overdo it.

Next turn the stove down to a low, low simmer and stir in 1-2 teaspoons of sugar. Cover with a lid that you leave slightly open, to let off some of the steam while cooking.

Stir 1-2 times per hour to make sure there is no burning on the bottom of the pot. That’s the worst and will sour the flavor of your whole pot. If you end up scorching (which you can feel when you run your wooden spoon along the bottom of the pan) do not scrape it off. Leave it and continue with the recipe.

After 3-4 hours remove the lid and continue cooking 20-25 minutes until the sauce boils down to a lovely thick consistency. If you have time to let the sauce continue to cook 6 or 7 hours before the final off-lid cook down, it gets better and better.

Optional: Add meatballs that have been browning on the stove from the point when you boil the sauce. They can cook all day and will be delicious.