Today we have Sumptuous Spoonfuls joining us for a FABULOUS seasonal recipe – Marinara Sauce. If you’ve been up to your ears in tomatoes, you’re gonna love this! Crock on, baby!
Hello everyone! I’m Ann from Sumptuous Spoonfuls. Stacy contacted me back in June to ask if I would do a guest post for her in August … something made in the crockpot. The only things she asked were:
- Not a recipe already on the site
- Submitted a week in advance of your date
- Only use whole food ingredients
I thought that’s no sweat! I can totally handle that … Well, time went by and the date she had given me as a deadline came and went and I hadn’t sent her anything. You know how life gets so busy … this guest post completely slipped my mind! So I totally failed on the “submitted a week in advance” part, but I did make a new recipe with whole foods! In fact, just about everything in this recipe is fresh from the garden. The only things I purchased were the garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, brown sugar (or sucanat) and bay leaves.
I made this in my “new” crockpot which I just inherited from my grandmother. It’s totally retro, but I just love it. But then, I love everything I inherited from Gram’s kitchen.
The eggplant in this marinara sauce helps thicken it and adds a meaty, slightly buttery taste to it. If you have eggplant haters in your house, just don’t tell them! They will never guess there’s eggplant in the marinara sauce.
Garden Marinara Sauce in the Crockpot
Adapted from Fearfully. Wonderfully.
- 3 ½ lb of fresh garden tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped (or 2 – 28-oz. cans. Use either fresh home garden tomatoes or canned … don’t use the “fresh” ones from the grocery store!)
- 2 – 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- About 2 cups of chopped eggplant (I used a Japanese eggplant which has a very tender skin … if you use the large globe eggplant, you probably want to peel it first)
- 1 ½ Tablespoons of brown sugar/sucanat
- 1 ½ Tablespoons of Italian Seasoning
- 2 bay leaves
- A few teaspoons of finely chopped fresh herbs (I used rosemary, thyme, basil, & tarragon)
- 1 Tablespoon of Pesto (I used my homemade pesto, but store-bought is ok too)
- 1 teaspoon salt (add more or less to taste)
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
- Toss everything in the crockpot except for the salt and pepper.
- You don’t have to worry about chopping things too finely because we’re going to blend this all up at the end.
- Cover and cook on low heat for at least 8 hours.
- Remove the bay leaves and, using an immersion or regular blender, blend up the sauce, pulsing lightly for chunky sauce or blend it fine if you like a smoother sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Use this sauce however you would use a pasta sauce: over pasta, chicken (or eggplant!) parmesan, or lasagna. It’s also good for a dipping sauce for breadsticks or crusty Italian bread.
Hi, I’m Ann. I am not a chef–actually, I am an engineer. I just love to cook, and I love to share what I cook with my friends. I’ve been threatening them with starting my own food blog for years I think, and asking them to help me name it, but now I actually carried through on my promise. After a long time experimenting with photographing my food, here it is, finally, my friends.
If you want more good recipes, look me up! I love to share!
Stacy I am curious why do you say not to use store tomatoes ??? Wonderful recipe
This was a guest post. The reason the author suggested avoiding store tomatoes is that they are generally not organic and are heavily treated with pesticides and other nasties. You can get organic canned tomatoes, although they can be quite pricey.
ha! that’s funny! I usually use people’s recipes as inspiration to create my own version. I hate to be stuck to the letter of a recipe. 🙂
I often do the same thing. 🙂
I made that rotisserie chicken I found on your blog today. I made a few adjustments like NO aluminum foil and no skin…ah and no, water. Everything else the same! 🙂 it turned out great. we had some friends over, had the chicken in sandwiches and everyone had a ball swimming. I think this rotisserie chicken will be a go to recipe from now on. Made my life so much easier. Thank you so much. 🙂
🙂 You use my recipes like my Aunt Judy!
Can’t wait to try this-looks like a “keeper” thanks
Enjoy! 🙂
goodness, that sounds GOOD!
I know, right? 🙂
Sounds yummy! Do you think this would hold up well without the eggplant (so I can make it using what I already have & not have to go buy one :P)?
I am subbing zucchini for the eggplant. How did yours turnout?