Chunky Marinara

I have already posted Quiche and Chicken Marsala recipes after a recent trip to visit my grandmother inspired some serious cooking on my part. While up to see her, I was also fortunate enough to be there at the same time as my cousin's son's 1st birthday party. They had a ton of burgers and hot dogs from the get together, and of course that means leftovers are aplenty. There was a hefty amount of tomatoes left over, and rather than letting them get over ripe and go to waste, I decided to try something new and make a really fresh marinara sauce.  I've made marinara before, but never started with fresh tomatoes as the base.  New things are my favorite!
Now I realize that these pictures aren't of the same high quality that I typically use, however I was limited to my cell phone camera while on my trip.

I started off by cutting the tomato slices into smaller pieces and adding them to a small saucepan with some water and apple cider vinegar.



I let the tomatoes stew on low for an hour, until they were soft and mushy.



I added in a bit of chopped onion I had leftover from the Quiche, then added in some parsley and basil.  Then I let the mixture simmer for another 30 minutes.

I noticed that the sauce was still quite chunky, so rather than try and puree the tomatoes, I stirred in some tomato sauce and a bit of the Marsala cooking wine I had picked up for Chicken Marsala.

Ok so the Marsala?  Yeah, that was a great idea.  The sauce was delightful, with a slight wine taste that made it really spectacular.  I haven't used it in my prior marinara sauces but certainly will now.  I poured the sauce into a jar for my grandmother to use as desired, and got great feedback on how she liked it.  Family cooking is the best.

Chunky Marinara Recipe

Ingredients:

2-3 tomatoes
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons parsley
2 teaspoons basil
2 tablespoons onion
1 can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons Marsala cooking wine

Instructions:

Chop tomatoes, then add along with apple cider vinegar and water to a small saucepan on low heat.  Heat on low for 1 hour, then add chopped onion, parsley, and basil. Stew for 30 more minutes, then stir in tomato sauce and cooking wine.