Manga! Eat!

As promised, here is my hubby's recipe for fresh marinara sauce {& let me tell you, it is absolutely delicious}.  He doesn't use a recipe, so how much of which veggie he puts in depends primarily on what we have laying around & personal taste.    Just throw everything in a food processor to blend together,  then into a pot on the stove.  Add sugar, salt & pepper & herbs {we used our home dried oregano & fresh basil in addition to dried Italian seasoning mix}, then simmer until its deep, rich red & thick {plan for at least an hour-- you can also put everything in a crock pot & simmer all day, which has the added benefit of making your house smell like a glorious Italian bistro by the time you get home}. Put it on top of your favorite pasta & top with fresh grated  Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese & enjoy!

All the veggies were purchased at our local farmer's market-- as were the mushrooms & onions which were sooooo yummy.  We intended to freeze some {we are trying to create a backlog of frozen sauces etc that we can tap into when the busy fall semester starts}...key word here is intended.  We ended up polishing this particular batch of marinara off in short order {first on pasta, then as a dipping sauce for fresh bread}, but it does freeze well if you manage to resist it fresh!

 We enjoyed the onions & mushrooms so much that Jeremy decided to make a onion mushroom broth to freeze & use as a base later.  He threw the onion tops & mushroom stems in with a bit of water {you could use veg or chicken stock too-- we just stuck with water to make the base more of a blank canvas}, added some sea salt & ground pepper & garlic, then set it on the stove on low for a few hours {the broth turned a pale yellow & the veggies faded}.  Taste it every so often & add seasoning to taste.

When you are happy with the flavor, remove from heat & allow to cool.  Pull out the veggies {press them between slotted spoons first to squeeze them out}.  The just store it until you want to use it-- we stuck it in a labelled freezer bag-- always date & label your bags unless you like frozen sauce surprise.  I can't wait to see what he turns that broth into!

Enjoy!