Spaghetti Marinara (Sugo Di Pomodoro)

My kids love spaghetti and this is a blog post that I am making on their request. This is a general way I have been using and making spaghetti when I am in pinch with time. Why use store bought sauces that are filled with preservatives, additives and artificial flavour enhancers, when it is immeasurable better, tastier, healthier and easy enough to make your own?

Marinara sauce is a basic sauce and is by far the easiest one to make. Italians have very diversified regional cuisine and most recipes, including spaghetti sauces, vary widely. This is the recipe I adapted from Alice Twain. She is an Italian lady living in Milan, northern Italy, and she writes extensively on Quora, about Italian cuisine. I highly recommend you check her out, if you like to learn more about authentic Italian cuisine.

Lastly I like to point out that typically Italian pasta serving is not a huge bowl of pasta overflowing with greasy sauce as we typically encounter in North American restaurant chains. Instead it is about 80g of spaghetti prepared in a small portion of a good quality sauce, made from scratch.

Marinara sauce has only 4 components: olive oil, garlic, chopped ripe tomatoes (or canned substitute), fresh basil (or dry oregano). It is of crucial importance that each one of these ingredients is of the best quality you can get! The good quality ingredients are the key to good taste!

Once you get the hang of it, and perhaps you become little more ambitious, you may try one of more complex recipes that I blogged about as: Pasta Bolognese, Moldavian braised vegetable sauce or Pomodoro pasta sauce.

Spaghetti Marinara can be made in about 20-30 minutes. If preparation is sequenced and timed properly it is a breeze to make and the taste is…well, that is why my kids asked me to make a blog about it!

So lets get to it!

Print Recipe

Spaghetti Marinara (Sugo Di Pomodoro)

Basic pasta sauce!

Course

Main Dish, Sauce

Cuisine

Italian

Keyword

marinara, spaghetti sauce

Prep Time

5 minutes

Cook Time

15-20 minutes

Servings

serving

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove lightly crushed
• 1 large ripe tomato or substitute with 1/2 cup crushed San Marzano canned tomatoes
• 2-3 fresh basil leaves or substitute with 1/4 tsp of dry oregano
• 80 g spaghetti
• 2 tsp fine sea salt
• Parmesan cheese grated

Course Main Dish, Sauce Cuisine Italian Keyword marinara, spaghetti sauce Prep Time 5 minutes Cook Time 15-20 minutes Servings serving Ingredients 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 garlic clove lightly crushed 1 large ripe tomato or substitute with 1/2 cup crushed San Marzano canned tomatoes 2-3 fresh basil leaves or substitute with 1/4 tsp of dry oregano 80 g spaghetti 2 tsp fine sea salt Parmesan cheese grated

Instructions

1. In a medium size covered pot, bring water to a rolling boil.
2. Over medium heat (5 out of 10) preheat medium size pan.
3. Add olive oil and garlic clove and cook for about 1-2 minutes
4. Add chopped tomato, cook for 10-15 minutes or until the water evaporates and the sauce thickens up. Note: When you are half way through the cooking time proceed with the following step.

   
5. Add salt to the water and add spaghetti to the pot.
6. Stir in torn basil leaves, just before spaghetti are transferred into the pan.

   
7. When spaghetti are cooked (follow time instructions on the package), use a tongs to transfer them directly to the pan. Use the tongs to swirl spaghetti around and thoroughly mix with the sauce, about 1 minute.

   
8. Add 1/4 cup of pasta water and kip mixing until it all comes together and pasta absorbs the water.
9. Serve warm with grated Parmesan cheese.

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