Chunky Marinara

Marinara fits well almost everywhere. On a pizza, in pasta, on bruschetta… Probably each one you had was a slightly different from another. I am currently in a chunky marinara phase
 

Chunky Marinara

1 (400 g) can Italian canned tomatoes
1 onion
4-5 cloves garlic
1/2 carrot
1 celery stick
1 tsp sugar
dried oregano
salt and pepper
fresh basil leaves
olive oil

Dice onion. Peel and then grate the carrot. Dice celery stick also. Cut the tomatoes.

Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan, add diced onion and fry until it become translucent. Just before it’s done, add roughly chopped garlic cloves and fry until it becomes fragrant. If you like, you can add even more garlic cloves

Add carrot and celery stick, saute and then add chopped tomatoes, sugar, as well as the tomato juices from the can. Add salt and pepper to taste, wait until it heats through and then reduce the heat and cover. Simmer until it’s thick as much as you like. If you find the sauce too chunky, go through it a couple of times with a hand blender or give it a spin or two in a regular blender (although I prefer to use hand blender for this). Just don’t make it a puree as it won’t be a chunky marinara anymore

At the end of cooking, stir in some dried oregano. Serve with chipped fresh basil.

Note: Make marinara with fresh tomato also. If so, choose beautiful, ripe tomatoes. Peel them and remove the seeds. And only then measure the amount you need for the recipe.

This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging. Host is Simona from Briciole.