Marinara Sauce

Last night, I made the most delicious veggie lasagna!! I want to share but I will warn you, its a little time-consuming...but so worth it, it was unbelievably tasty. It has a few different steps so I'll break them up into a few separate entries for easier future searching. Part one, the sauce...

Nic's Marinara Sauce
EVOO, about 1/4 cup
2 big carrots, peeled and diced
2 big stalks celery, diced
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
2 28oz cans whole, peeled tomatoes
2 Tbls tomato paste
Dry red wine (Doesn't have to be expensive but it should be something you would drink)
Fresh oregano
Fresh basil
2 bay leaves
2 Tbls butter
Salt and pepper

Heat EVOO in large stock pot. Saute over med heat carrots, celery, and onion until soft and translucent, about 10-15 min. Add garlic and saute another 5 minutes. Squish (yes, that's a technical term) tomatoes with your hands into the pot. Add oregano and basil to taste. Add paste and stir it all together. Let simmer over med heat until tomatoes begin to break up. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. You can also cool in refrigerator overnight if you want. Next we put the mixture into a blender and puree. Hot contents will expand in the blender, which is why you want it cool. After it is pureed, put back in the pot and bring to bubbling over med-high heat. Add wine until desired consistency is reached. (I usually use about half a bottle for the sauce, half a bottle for the chef.) Add the bay leaves and butter, and let simmer until alcohol cooks out of the wine, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!!

I usually make at least this much, sometimes 2 or 3 times this much. I can my sauce but freezing it works well too if you're not an old lady canner like me! this recipe made 4 12oz cans for me.