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marinara sauce

(1 rating)
amyalusa avatar
Recipe by
Amy Alusa
@amyalusa
Chico, CA

I started out with my mom's spaghetti sauce which was similar in some aspects...she taught me to use the brown sugar, because it enhances the tomato taste, and cuts down on some of the acidic taste. We use this for all of our pasta dishes: Lasagna, Spaghetti, Tortellini, Baked Zitti and Manicotti, Baked Green Peppers...etc. It just adds pizzaz to the bottled pasta sauce (or tomato sauce, if you don't have any bottled). Our friends and family feel there is not a better sauce. We really enjoy it. I hope you do too.

(1 rating)
yield 8 -10
prep time 45 Min
cook time 50 Min

Ingredients For marinara sauce

  • 1 lg
    onion, minced
  • 1 Tbsp
    garlic powder, or 2 tablespoons offinely minced garlic cloves
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp
    parsley flakes
  • 1 1/2 tsp
    basil, dried
  • 1/4 tsp
    marjoram, dried
  • 1/4 tsp
    oregano, dried
  • 1/8 tsp
    rosemary, dried
  • 1/8 tsp
    thyme, dried
  • 3
    sloshes of red wine vinegar
  • 2 1/2 bottle
    ( 25 oz) your favorite pasta sauce, or 6 ( 14.4 oz) cans of tomatoe sauce
  • 1/2 lb
    pork breakfast sausage
  • 2 lb
    ground chuck, or hamburger
  • 1/2 c
    parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 c
    brown sugar, loosely packed
  • 1/2 c
    mozzarella cheese, grated

How To Make marinara sauce

  • 1
    Boil a big pot of water with 2 tablespoon of olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt if you want it to boil sooner. Cook the lasagna al dente (you can easily cut it with a fork). Do not over cook. Cool for a bit so that you can handle the pasta. Lay each noodle out on a long piece of waxed paper to dry.
  • 2
    In a skillet, saute the onion and herbs, including half of the dried parsley. Reduce heat to medium and add the meat. Brown until well cooked, but not burned. Drain the grease off of the meat. Slosh in the wine vinegar, cook some more (for about 1 minute) and stir it up.
  • 3
    Pour pasta sauce into a dutch oven, heat it up and add the meat mixture and brown sugar. Mix well. Add 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup of the Mozzerella cheese. Mix well until cheeses are melted.
  • Last Step: Don't forget to share! Make all your friends drool by posting a picture of your finished recipe on your favorite social network. And don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes so we can see it too!
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