A easy marinara is a staple make-ahead aspect for any pizza occasion. Though it might be used on New York or Chicago deep-dish pies (Neapolitan model requires an raw sauce), this flavor-packed sauce is greatest suited to dipping leftover pizza crusts, garlic knots, baked dough balls, or mozzarella sticks into, because of its wealthy taste and thick texture.
As this comprehensive overview notes, conventional marinara sauce is all about steadiness — simmered simply to the purpose the tomatoes are cooked whereas nonetheless sustaining the style and juice of contemporary tomatoes. That’s additionally nice for pasta.
For a dip, we like one thing a bit chunkier that doesn’t run to forestall the dreaded dip drip. It is a thick sauce that reduces by a 3rd, cooking down sun-ripened San Marzano tomatoes – a Neapolitan customary – with tomato purée, a contact of sugar, salt and pepper. Recent basil and crushed garlic infuse added taste through the cook dinner and mix even higher whereas the sauce cools within the fridge.
Yield
Serves 4 to six as a starter or aspect
Time
half-hour lively time
Components
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon tomato purée
500 grams can tinned plum tomatoes (ideally San Marzano)
Pinch flaked salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Freshly floor black pepper
2 to three basil sprigs
Technique
Warmth the olive oil in a saucepan over a medium warmth. As soon as scorching, add the crushed garlic cloves and cook dinner till golden (roughly 5 minutes).
Stir within the tomato purée with a picket spoon. Add the chopped tomatoes and crush them with a potato masher (or a big fork). Add the salt, sugar, pepper and basil and stir. Simmer over a low warmth till the sauce has diminished by a 3rd (roughly half-hour).
Take away the pan from the warmth and let cool barely. Switch to a sealed container, retailer within the fridge and permit it to chill utterly. Earlier than serving, take away the basil and chopped garlic, and switch the sauce to a small dipping bowl. Serve chilly or heat. To heat, warmth within the microwave for one minute in a microwave-safe container, stirring midway by way of.