Challenge 3.3

The source Eat This…It’ll Make You Feel Better!

The recipe Marinara Sauce In Australia, Marinara Sauce seems to refer to tomato sauce with assorted kinds of seafood in it; I can’t remember right now if the same is true in other places. Confusingly, Dom DeLuise calls this plain tomato sauce Marinara Sauce, as in “Fisherman’s Wife Sauce”, and says the name comes from the fact that fishermen’s wives would whip up this quick sauce when the fishing boats came into view over the horizon, and have it ready by the time the boats docked. My theory is that, if this is true, it’s because they were also hoping they’d get some fish to throw in at the last minute.

The ingredients
2-4 Tbsp olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced*
1 6 oz can tomato paste or equivalent
2 28 oz/4 400 g can(s) tomatoes**
4 Tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
10 basil leaves, shredded***
pepper****
grated cheese

The method In a large, deep frying pan, heat olive oil and sauté garlic briefly, just until fragrant. Add tomato paste, tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes. Bring to the bubbling point and then simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure it’s not sticking. Just before serving, add basil, pepper and cheese to taste.

The verdict This is a good, basic, fresh-tasting meatless tomato sauce that I think would adapt well to any number of additions, whether fish, fowl, vegetable, or other. The sun-dried tomatoes (apparently Dom’s mother’s idea) provide a bit more complexity than you get in a standard sauce.

* I also added a pinch of dried chili flakes at this stage.
** I misread this, and used half as much canned tomato as the recipe specifies. It was still good.
*** I didn’t have any fresh basil, so I threw a cube of frozen pesto in at the end.
**** I think Dom has a thing about salt, but I added some here.