Marinara Sauce (Mario Batali)

This was my first time making my own marinara sauce and I was not disappointed. This came from Serious Eats where Mario says, “I use it as a building block in lots of dishes as well as just a simple quick pasta sauce that can be transformed in a thousand ways”.

INGREDIENTS

6 Tbsp virgin olive oil
1 Spanish onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
4 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried)
1/2 medium carrot, finely shredded
2 x 28-oz cans of tomatoes, crushed by hand and mixed well with their juices (I bought diced tomatoes and crushed them a little more with my hands. Mario says the key is San Marzano tomatoes from Italy but I didn’t go looking for them and the sauce was still very good).
Salt, to taste

DIRECTIONS

Place oil into a large sauce pan with onions and garlic. Cook over medium heat until translucent but not brown (about 10 minutes). Add the thyme and carrot; cook 5 minutes longer.

Add the tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to just bubbling, stirring occasionally for 30 mins.

Season with salt to taste. Serve immediately. This sauce can also be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 6 months.