A loyal Simple Daily Recipes' friend has put out the call for cooking help. Geek Bearing Gifts, that's our friend's handle, emailed the following recipe into SDR. I would love to see us, not just me, help Geek Bearing Gifts solve for the missing ingredient(s) in the Slow Cooker Marinara recipe.
Read on and I'll meet you in the Comments section.
Hey, Jill!
Your Meaty Red Sauce inspired me to ask for help. I have been trying to develop a recipe for a spicy (meatless) marinara/spaghetti sauce using canned tomato products, and I just can't get it right. My favorite jarred/canned sauces are Prego original, and Trader Joe's Tuscano Marinara. The best-tasting version I've made is not even close to either one, and is definitely missing something (not bay leaf--my experimentation has shown me I don't care for it.) Any suggestions from you and your readers would be greatly appreciated--thanks in advance for the help!
I'm including my current version below. It's based on a Hunt's recipe I found on their site ( http://www.hunts.com/recipes/recipePrint.jsp?action=recipe&recipeid=2579&view=RecipeCard ) I love their idea for making it in the crock pot because it doesn't pop all over the stove (or me) and I don't have to keep running into the kitchen and stirring it.
Slow Cooker Marinara
- 1 large Onion, chopped or 1/3 cup dehydrated
- 6 cloves Garlic, pressed
- 4 (14-15 oz) cans Diced Tomatoes, with liquid, or 2 (28-32 oz) cans whole tomatoes, pulsed in food processor till chunky
- 1 (15-16) oz can Tomato Sauce
- 3 (6 oz) cans Tomato Paste
- 2 tablespoons dried Basil
- 1 tablespoon dried Oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried Parsley Flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Salt
Combine ingredients in a 4- or 5-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low six hours.
Yields approximately 2½ quarts or about 12-14 servings
So what do you think?
I can get my hands on a jar of Prego, but we don’t have Trader Joe’s in Texas.
People put too many ingredients in their Marinara. I have definitivly simplifies my recipe and am thrilled with the results.
In so far as the recipe above I think it is missing an acid at the end. A squeeze of fresh lemon would make it pop!
Thanks Ed!
What is the difference between a Marinara sauce and regular spaghetti sauce?
Thanks, Ed! I’ll try some lemon juice or red wine vinegar in my next batch. Keep those suggestions coming, please
I think you should leave out the dried basil and dried parley. Add fresh minced herbs at the end, just before serving. Also, instead of vinegar or lemon juice, I would add a quality red wine, about 1/2 cup at the start.
Dawn, I hear you about fresh herbs, but I don’t always have them around, and I have plenty of dried. I realized after I posted that someone would inevitably recommend wine–I probably should have mentioned that we don’t drink alcohol for religious reasons. The only alcohol I use in cooking is the small amount in a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract or other flavorings.
I made a batch of sauce on Thursday to go with baked chicken parmigiana and spaghetti for Friday’s dinner. I added 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, and increased the brown sugar to 2 tablespoons. It really made a difference. In fact, I think I’ll need to cut back on some seasonings next time, because the vinegar really enhanced the flavor of the herbs and the crushed red pepper, making them a bit overwhelming (though it would have been fine if I were adding meat to the finished sauce.) The vinegar definitely perked up the tomato flavor, too, and the sauce tasted better on Friday when I reheated it than it did on Thursday night when I put it in the refrigerator.
In my next batch I’ll keep the 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, and cut the basil to 4 teaspoons, the parsley to 2 teaspoons, and the crushed red pepper to a scant 1/2 teaspoon.