I heard John Mariani, an expert on Italian-American food, interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR a while back. He was chock-full of all sorts of interesting information on the history of Italian cuisine in America. I learned why, until recently, our notion of Italian food involves a lot of pizza and heavy pasta and meatballs (most Italian immigrants were poor folks from Naples).
In the middle of all this great food history, Mariani suddenly dropped the simplest recipe. He said this was the marinara sauce he grew up on, still his favorite. I didn't even have to go digging on the internet to make sure I had all the ingredients and proportions right. Here's why:
Chop 3-4 cloves of garlic. Brown in a heavy saute pan for 3-4 minutes. Remove garlic bits, add 1 can peeled Italian tomatoes. Cook on low 20-30 minutes, smashing tomatoes as they cook. Add salt/pepper to taste, and basil.
That's it. It tastes so rich and the tomato flavor just sings. With all the sugar and other ingredients meant to pump up the flavor in every jar of pasta sauce on the grocery store shelves, mass-produced marinara just can't hold a candle to this simple concoction, which, by the way, is less expensive as well, even if you use the pricier San Marzano tomatoes he recommends. They are worth it, but the first time I made this sauce all I had on hand was Stater Bros store brand tomatoes, and it still knocked my socks off. I also made it with a can of Trader Joe's peeled tomatoes with basil, and it was intensely yummy.
Tonight I added a couple of ingredients, although I didn't want to mess too much with perfection. Instead of removing the browned garlic bits from the pan, I sauteed chopped onion and mushroom before adding the tomato and sprinkling in dried oregano, finishing again with basil. Sooo simple, why am I even blogging about it?
Because it's seductively, intensely good.
