Weeknight Marinara

In my experience, there are very few things more homey and comforting than a pot of sauce (or gravy, depending on how Italian you are or which part of NJ you are from) simmering on the stove. Not having a drop of Italian in us, my mom and I are constantly trying to perfect our sauces- trying different things, adding different ingredients that Italian people care to share and experimenting on our own.

My best friend, a true Italian through and through, taught me her "meatball and sauce" recipe, though I'll leave that up to her to share here if she feels so inclined. That takes a few hours, and I don't often have that time on weeknights.

I was so excited to see this recipe for marinara posted on one of my favorite cooking blogs and couldn't wait to try it. So with all of the ingredients already in my pantry, I set off to try what I'm calling my "Weeknight Marinara."

 Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28 ounce) can peeled whole plum tomatoes, chopped
Kosher salt and red pepper flakes to taste (I used about 2 tsp of salt and 1T of red pepper flakes. Holy hotness!)
1 packet Splenda
3 T fresh chopped basil
2 T finely grated Parmesan (my best friend also taught me to add cheese to sauces to make them more flavorful and rich)

Directions

In a saucepan over medium high heat, add the olive oil and onion. Saute until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and saute an additional minute until fragrant (that's when you know it's the right time to add the next ingredients and "stop" the cooking process).

Pour in the tomatoes and add the salt, red pepper flakes, and Splenda. Stir and bring just to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer, add the basil and continue cooking for about 20 minutes until ready to serve.

Run through blender or Magic Bullet if desired.
Adapted from: http://dinnersforayear.blogspot.com/2010/01/ricotta-gnocchi-in-flash.html (Note: I'm DYING to try this gnocchi, so stay tuned!)