Healthy Cooking with Kimba: Complete Meal Marinara

When it’s tomato season, it’s the best time to make sauce and freeze for the rest of the year!
I grew up on the chunky marinara sauce my father made from all the extra vegetables from his garden at summer’s end, so I prefer chunky sauce to the puréed variety to this day. If you prefer a smooth sauce, simply put it in the blender or use an immersion blender and purée at the end of cooking.

What do you need?

Yield: 6-8 quarts

• 4 pounds any size tomatoes, stemmed, cored, and halved
• 2 pounds ground turkey, beef, pork, bison, or any mix thereof (optional)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 eggplant, stemmed, peeled, and cut into 1-inch dice
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• 1 large zucchini, stemmed, peeled, and cut into 1-inch dice
• 1 bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced
• 2 ribs celery, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• Kosher Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• ¼ cup dried basil
• ¼ cup dried parsley
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano

What do you do?

1. Set a 8-quart or larger pot next to a small bowl fitted with a fine mesh strainer. Squeeze the seeds out of each tomato half into the strainer, cut the halves into a few smaller pieces, and place the tomato pieces in the pot. Repeat until all the tomatoes have been deseeded. Discard the seeds and reserve the liquid in the bowl. Place the pot with tomato chucks on the stove over medium heat and cook for 45 minutes.
2. In a small pot over high heat, bring the tomato liquid collected in the bowl to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer for 60minutes, or until the juice reduces by half and the flavor has concentrated.
3. If using the ground meat, place it in a large sauté pan over medium heat and cook until all the meat has browned. Drain off any excess fat.
4. Add the oil to the sauté pan and then add the eggplant, onion, zucchini, bell pepper, celery, and garlic (if you are using the meat and there’s not room in the pan for the meat and the vegetables together, remove the meat to a bowl while the vegetables cook). Season with the salt and black pepper. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.
5. Transfer the contents of the sauté pan (including the meat, if using) to the pot containing the tomatoes. Stir in the herbs until well combined. Once the tomato juices in the small pot have reduced by half, add it to the sauce.
6. Continue to simmer for at least 1 hour (2 hours is better). Remove from the heat. Taste and re-season with salt and black pepper, if necessary.
7. Use immediately or divide among freezer-safe containers and set aside to cool uncovered at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours.
8. Cover and store in the freezer until ready to use. The sauce will store in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Are you interested in healthy eating?
Click this link for more articles by Kimberley Maloomian on healthy nutrition.