marinara sauce

Marinara sauce has been a love of mine since I was a kid sharing family meals at Anna Maria’s, a beloved family-owned Italian restaurant in Santa Monica. Marinara over shells is my favorite, but I have been known to eat it just by the spoonful. Never have I a made a worthy version from scratch, until now.

This recipe incorporates celery and carrots. And while I’m not sure how authentically Italian these ingredients may be, they seem to be valuable additions to the tomatoes, delivering a rustic flavor. I substituted half of the tomatoes for fresh tomatoes and wine. This sauce is hefty, despite being meatless.

adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis’ marinara sauce recipe

serves 4-6

½ cup EVOO

2 small onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp freshly ground pepper

1-28oz. can Hunt’s crushed tomatoes

4 fresh, large paste tomatoes, sliced

1 cup red wine

2 dried bay leaves
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

to make your sauce:

*heat oil over medium high heat and sauté onions and garlic for 10 minutes

*add carrots, celery, salt and pepper, and stir occasionally another 10 minutes

*add tomatoes and remove from heat

*blend with immersion blender

*bring to simmer, add bay leaf and red pepper

*cook on low heat, uncovered, for one hour

*remove and discard bay leaves before serving

serving suggestions:

*freshly grated parmesan and homemade garlic bread, buon appetite!

Chicken Parmesan

this is a really simple and fast chicken Parmesan recipe. it will serve approximately 4 people. we have started buying the thinly sliced chicken breasts, which cook even faster. also, i usually want to add more spaghetti sauce than recommended.

one advantage of using the dutch oven is that you can saute and bake the chicken in the same dish. the last time i made this, i fried pieces of bacon in a little olive oil before adding the chicken and it was quite tasty.

ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package mozzarella cheese slices
1 jar spaghetti sauce
desired noodles (i prefer angel hair)
olive oil
salt & pepper

directions:
*preheat oven to 350 degrees
*mix breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and red pepper together
*dredge chicken through milk, then eggs, than breadcrumb mixture
*lightly brown chicken in skillet with olive oil (about 3-4 minutes each side) and lightly salt and pepper
*pour 1/2 sauce over the chicken breasts
*add a slice of mozzarella on top of each breast
*bake, covered, for 25-30 minutes
*prepare noodles
*serve chicken on top of a bed of noodles and cover with remaining sauce

serving suggestion:
i like to eat this meal with a crisp salad and garlic bread.