Slow Cooked Marinara

Growing tomatoes each summer is kind of a past time for our family. I don’t have a garden, so I fill my entire patio with container tomato plants. My parents have the space, but with dear, rabbits and every other garden enemy looking for ripe fruits and veggies, my parents just grow tomatoes. A lot of tomatoes.

Oregon tomatoes take longer to ripen due to our weather and late summer, but the fruit is divine. They are so flavorful that I am happy to just go out and grab a handful of cherry tomatoes off the vine and eat them before I even get the the front door. My dad, he’ll eat garden fresh tomatoes as you would an apple or pear.

I made a brief trip home to visit my parents in early September and I ended up with part of their overflowing bounty. They had bowls of tomatoes all over the kitchen and more on the vines waiting for picking. So I was happy to grab a bag before I hit the road.

Once at my place, I was trying to decide what to do with the tomatoes. Salsa is always the go-to. I love good homemade salsa. However, I decided this year to do something different. Instead, I decided to make marinara that I could freeze and enjoy later when we are stuck with canned or imported blah tomatoes.

If you have read any of my blog posts, you probably guessed that my favorite ingredient is TIME, well, and thyme. So with all these garden fresh tomatoes on hand, it was time to go low and slow.

What I love about this easy marinara recipe is that it relatively hands off. Once you get the ingredients prepped and the cooking started, there is little more to do. I don’t even peel the tomato skins! It is that easy. This is the perfect recipe for a weekend when you have no plans and are just hanging around the house doing “weekend things.” I like to cook my marinara on the stove top, but this recipe is easily made in a slow cooker.

Slow Cooked Marinara

Recipe by Oven and Spice / Kacey BaxterCourse: DinnerCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servingsservings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

3

hours 

Total time

3

hours 

15

minutes

Ingredients

• 3.5 pounds fresh tomatoes, cored, deseeded, rough chopped

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 medium onion, chopped fine (about 1 cup)

• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 2 teaspoons)

• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

• 2/3 cup drinkable dry red wine (if you won’t drink it, don’t use it!)

• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

• 2 teaspoons sugar

• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

• Heat 2 tbs olive oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden around edges, 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and oregano and cook, stirring constantly, until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.
• Add tomatoes and wine. Cover, but leave a 1/2” gap in lid. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to low and cook 3-4 hours or until tomatoes are cooked through and liquid has reduced.
• Stir in remaining 1 tbs of EVOO,  basil, salt, pepper, sugar. Adjust seasonings to taste.
• Transfer sauce to food processor (or transfer to saucepan and insert immersion blender). Process until desired texture—eight 2-second pulses for slightly chunky or four 2-second pulses for extra chunky. Personally, I process until the tomato skins are chopped up and some chunks remain. 

Notes

• Slow Cooker: If you prefer, this can be made in a slow cooker. After step one, transfer onion mixture to an electric slow cooker. Add in tomatoes and wine. Cover, but leave a 1/2” gap in lid. Turn on to high and cook 5-6 hours or until tomatoes are cooked through and liquid has reduced.