Okay, first I have to say I stopped buying jarred red sauces over 8 years ago. I got tired of reading the labels and seeing more and more unnecessary ingredients. One day my husband suggested that I should experiment with tomato paste and make my own sauce. Why not, right? Tomato paste is nothing more than condensed tomatoes, and very affordable. I began to read labels and was discouraged that even tomato paste had added ingredients; I just wanted tomatoes! Finally, I was happy to find that Publix brand tomato paste only had one ingredient: tomatoes!
Making homemade marinara sauce is one of the easiest and healthiest changes you could make to your diet. Especially if you are red sauce lovers like we are. I usually make large batches and freeze in freezer bags to use later over pasta, with lasagna, eggplant parmesan, chicken parmesan, as a dipping sauce, meatball subs etc. Really is a wonderful product to have in the freezer.
Amounts of ingredients are always dependent on personal preference. Including the amount of liquid. Some like a thick, chunky sauce, others a thinner sauce. A chunky sauce is accomplished by less water and the inclusion of canned stewed, diced, or whole tomatoes.
For a 6 oz can of paste start with about 3-4 cups of water. For a 12 oz can of paste 6-8 cups of water. I suggest the lower numbers as you can always add more liquid.
In a pot, over medium heat, pour your water and add the paste. Whisk until paste dissolves. The following ingredients are strictly up to your preference, you will need plenty of seasoning though. My preference is as follows:
Add - diced tomatoes, diced green pepper, onions, garlic, basil, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, dash of cayenne, 2-3 large bay leaves, and stalk of celery (bay leaves & celery will be removed later). This truly only takes minutes. The longest part of the process is chopping the onions and pepper, which is only a few minutes.
Now you could do what the jarred recipes do and add processed sugar. I don't like adding sugar to my recipes. However, it is necessary to add some kind of sweetener to the sauce to cut the acidity. What I put in my sauce are 2-3 carrots and/or a large apple sliced in half (take the seeds out). The longer you allow the sauce to simmer the better - 2-3 hours allows the flavors to meld beautifully.
Remove the carrots, celery and what is left of the apple, as well as the bay leaves. It is very important to count your bay leaves and make sure they are removed before serving. There have been incidences of people choking on bay leaves. Please be diligent about counting them as you put them in the sauce and be sure they are all removed before serving your dish. You do have to add what seems like quite a bit of salt. BUT it will still be far less than the huge levels of sodium in the jarred versions. I always use Sea Salt which contains less sodium than regular salt. Let the sauce cook and the flavors meld before deciding on whether more salt is needed. It probably will need more, but it is up to taste.
If you do not have 2-3 hours of simmer time, do not fret! If you need to whip a sauce up for dinner, and only have 20-30 minutes simmer time, it will still taste better homemade, then store bought.
CREAMY, BASIL TOMATO SOUP from leftover marinara.
Like red sauce, there is usually a personal preference to the consistency of tomato soup. I like my tomato soup about medium consistency, with a creamy flavor and texture. This is accomplished by the addition of milk, cream or cheese. For example, if you like your Campbells Tomato soup diluted with milk, you like what I like. If you prefer diluting it with water, for a thinner, more tangy tomato soup, you can substitute the milk and sour cream suggestions, with water or veggie/chicken broth.
I use fat-free milk for all my creamy soup recipes. If you want to use whole cream or fat-free half & half, the flavors will be even more indepth. However, even with the healthier fat-free milk the soup will be delicious!
Pour marinara sauce into a pot.
Because we are adding a dairy product to the soup we do not want to bring it to a boil. The soup may "break" (milk or cream curdles). So put your burner on a lower setting and proceed to add about 1/2 cup of milk to the cold sauce and a couple tablespoons of low-fat sour cream, whisk until blended. Continue stirring on a fairly regular basis. I LOVE fresh basil with any tomato product. If you have fresh basil add it to the soup in any way you prefer; whole, chopped, or pureed. If not, dried basil is very tasty. Remember, dried herbs have a stronger flavor than fresh, so go easier on the dried basil, then the fresh.
Your marinara sauce already had a TON of flavor so there is really nothing more that you need to add other than the cream base and basil. Taste-test and add seasonings as needed: sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, more basil, onion powder, or even some cheddar or American cheese if you like. Just keep stirring as you add ingredients. Soup is ready when it is nice and hot (don't boil) and you are ready to eat!
ENJOY your healthy, homemade Creamy Tomato Basil Soup!
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