Wanted, almost home-made marinara

I don't think marinara gains anything by simmering for long periods of time unless you are using whole or diced tomato in it and want the fruit to break down a little. Marinara should taste "fresh or bright" My marinara

Onion one large sliced thinly
Garlic fresh 6-10 cloves minced
Olive oil extra virgin about 3/4 cup
Sautéed until the onion and garlic have released their flavor to the oil, until just tender
Tomato-canned is fine, fresh is better, sometimes a mix of both, crushed, diced, puréed it's up to you, usually a mix of diced and puréed. 3-4 15 oz cans, 1 1/2 to 2 quarts
Good red wine added with the tomato 1/2 cup
Spices to your liking fresh is better but dried will work fine too basil, oregano, marjoram, some people like to add these to the oil/garlic/onion and that works too.
Bring it to a simmer slowly


Now, if your making Sunday gravy (meat sauce), you must simmer for long periods to gain and meld the flavors. Meat sauce like most meat "stews" is much better the second or later days. In fact, I think by cooking and then cooling and then re-heating the sauce it allows things to come together much better. I usually just turn it off as late in the day as possible after it has been simmering for several hours and let it sit covered on the stove cooling slowly overnight and then turn it back on first thing the next day. Obviously you need to refrigerate it for longer periods.

 

Mine is pretty simple. I got it from scouring recipes from mainly Southern Italian chefs. Like Dave said, it is a quick and chunky sauce. Sautee garlic in olive oil and then add plum tomatoes. At the end of cooking add fresh basil. That is it. They keep it basic.

A variation of this is to add red pepper flakes in for a slight kick but that is optional.

 

I always make "gravy" as that was what it was called growing up Italian. And Dave hit the nail on the head in regards to simmering for a long time being more for this than a marinara.

I make a huge pot of it very similar to Dave;s recipe except I simmer some tomato paste after the garlic and onions and prior to the canned tomato.

Regarding the meats, I always use a good amount of partially cooked hamburger and as my grandmother taught me (and she was right) it has to have some sort of pork for flavoring. I generally partially cook sweet or hot Italian sausage and sometimes will add pork chops if they are in the freezer. What comes next is whatever meat you might have in the freezer that has been there a while and might not be optimal for the grill any longer but perfectly fine in the gravy-mostly beef/pork but chicken if making a cacciatori (damm I wish I got that recipe from Nana before she passed). The key to all of the meat is to only partially cook it prior so that it finishes in the gravy and releases all of its flavor instead of leaving that flavor in the frying pan. When you get a nice thin layer of fat oil on the top of the gravy after simmering for hours, you know that have all the flavor from the meats-so don't trim the fats.

Like I said, I make a HUGE pot as this freezes very well. I have used frozen gravy that had been a year old and it tasted as good as the day it was made. I save the 16oz plastic Marshmallow Fluff containers as they hold just enough gravy and meats for 2-4 people-just snap the red lid on and in the freezer they go.

Also a little bit of sugar helps cut down the acid-very little as you are not trying to sweeten this at all (another tip from Nana)

Here is a pic of a pot I made a year ago January. I still have one container left and that will be used this weekend. I got at least 6 containers from this pot.