Happy Birthday the Italian Way!

Yesterday we celebrated our girls second birthday.  We had some of their little friends over for a play date and lunch.  We served the usual...chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, cake and ice-cream.  I of course could not let my little one's special day go by without a home cooked dinner!  Thinking as to what I could make I easily came up with ravioli with my home-made marinara sauce.  Ever since our girls could eat solid food they have loved my marinara sauce.  We even started putting the red sauce over foods we knew that they disliked:  green beans, carrots, turkey hamburgers, etc...  Any food that has a red sauce over it they will eat...now please tell me that's not italian!!!!


My marinara sauce recipe is super simple...and super good!  The key is using fresh herbs instead of dried and to puree the sauce with a hand blender or blender.  My Grandma DiVito disliked chunks of tomato in her sauce...I am still trying to reach her "sauce potential", but I know I am getting there by making the sauce smooth and not chunky!  For the girls birthday we ladle the sauce over some spinach and cheese filled ravioli we bought at Costco (                                        ) they are great!

MARINARA SAUCE

• 2 TB. Butter
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• 10 garlic cloves chopped
• 3 - 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
• 2- 14 oz. cans tomato sauce
• 1 TB. chopped fresh oregano
• 3-4 TB. chopped fresh basil (about 12 basil leaves)
• salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to taste
• water

1. Heat olive oil and butter in a heavy bottom sauce pan or pot.
2. Add garlic and saute 3-5 minutes
3. Add basil and oregano - cook 2 minutes
4. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, pepper and red pepper to your liking and cook 5 minutes.
5. Add about 1/2 cup to 1 cup water ( I usually do this by adding some water to empty tomato cans and swishing water around to get all the juice from the cans).  Add this water to sauce in pot. Stir.
6. Let sauce cook on medium for about half an hour. 
7. With a hand blender puree the tomato sauce until smooth.
8. Cook for one more hour on low.  Can cook for more, but an hour usually does the trick.