Easy Marinara Sauce

Start the sauce off with finely diced carrot, celery, onion and garlic.  And then you have the finished tomato goodness!

 So I have recently been making this sauce quite a bit for a variety of reasons.  I've taught my cooking students how to make it.  I've been working quite a few Make Ahead Meal nights where we have made the sauce, I made Chicken Parmesan for clients multiple times in the last month and this is the sauce I list with that recipe.  I make spaghetti for my family every other week.  You could say this sauce has been on my mind a lot.  So I decided it deserved it's own post.  For me, this sauce is a starting point; I simmer lean beef or sausage in it for a meat sauce.  I throw in other veggies like mushroom, spinach or kale.  It's the sauce I use for lasagna, chicken parm, baked ziti or spaghetti casserole.  Make a big batch, split it up in containers and freeze it.  I usually always have some in my freezer because I can turn it into a meal very quickly on a busy night.  But also, a single batch can be made quickly and eaten just as quick.  :)

Erika’s Easy Marinara Sauce

1 tbl olive oil
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 medium carrot, finely diced
2 ribs of celery, finely diced
1/2 onion (yellow or red, whatever you like), finely diced
1 32 oz can crushed tomatoes (can be the kind seasoned with oregano and basil, or not)
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 6 oz can tomato paste
6 oz of water or broth (just fill the tomato paste can)
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning (contains basil, oregano, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, minced garlic, crushed red pepper)
2 tsp. sugar (or equivalent sugar substitute)

Directions
In medium pot heat oil over medium heat, add garlic, carrot, celery and onion.  Stir frequently and cook down until they are soft and begin to caramelize.
Add the Italian seasoning, stir and cook a few minutes more until the seasonings are fragrant.
Add cans of tomatoes, sauce and paste. Fill paste can w/ water or broth (I use water) and add just some of it to pot. Stir to incorporate the paste into the sauce. If it seems too thick, add more water.  Simmer for 5 minutes.
Add sugar (or substitute), stir and taste, if too tart for your taste, add more sugar.
Cover the pot and let the sauce boil. The sauce can still boil even on a lower heat; this can keep it from boiling over in the pot and/or splattering when you lift the lid. Let it simmer, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes.
At this point, it's ready for use or you can keep simmering for 30 minutes. 

Options:  After the initial 15 minute simmer, I have added uncooked ground Italian sausage and/or ground beef or turkey.  Lean beef must be very lean to minimize the added oil to the sauce, but I have found that cooking the meat in the sauce really enhances the flavors together.  Simmer for 30 minutes to an hour on low.

Add chopped spinach or kale and let it cook for another 15 minutes.  Or include mushrooms when you are first starting with the carrot, celery and onion.

Budget Beef and Broccoli

Much like my Cheap and Easy Turkey Stir Fry, semi-authentic beef and broccoli can be made with just a few pantry/freezer staples.  It's the sort of thing I can put together when I'm getting low on groceries or low on cash and need to shop frugally.  It can also be a great regular option in your meal planning since it takes just a few cheap ingredients and if you keep your pantry stocked, you'll have everything you need to have this dish ready in no time.  And if you think about what you pay for a pound of lean ground beef and a little less than a pound of fresh broccoli, you find yourself with a very inexpensive meal!

This is not an Earth-shattering revolution in cooking.  It's very simple. You can easily make this same recipe using more traditional thinly sliced flank or sirloin steak.  Both are fairly inexpensive cuts of beef.  But the difference is that generally you marinate that in garlic and soy sauce and dredge in flour or cornstarch.  I happen to like this recipe, still fairly simple (to me at least) and more like what you might expect in a restaurant.  The beauty of  my budget version, besides being cheap is it's basically a one-pot meal, it's relatively low calorie if you are using 75% or 80% lean ground beef, and broccoli is a great source of Vitamin C as well as a good source of Vitamin A.

Budget Beef and Broccoli

Ingredients
1 lb Lean Ground Beef
1 generous tablespoon Canola or Vegetable Oil
2 Crowns of Broccoli (about 1/2 lb), chopped into fairly small pieces.
2 Cloves minced/crushed Garlic or 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
Fresh Cracked Pepper (just use as little or as much as you like)

Sauce
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce (reduced sodium is best)
 1/4 cup Water or Beef Broth
2 teaspoons Cornstarch
1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce (optional, but you really should just have a bottle if you do any Asian cooking)

Directions
In a wok or a heavy bottom skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Break off the ground beef in bits, no need to roll them into balls, just pinch off pieces and place on the pan, try not to let them touch. Let them sear for a few minutes, then add fresh garlic or garlic powder, then using a spatula, move things around to turn over the pieces of ground beef.  Add the broccoli and mix it all up.  If you have a lid for your pan, cover it or just grab a cookie sheet and cover it for a bit (like 3-4 minutes) so the broccoli can steam and get crisp/tender. 

In a measuring cup or small bowl, mix the sauce ingredients together.  Uncover the pan, move the beef and broccoli to the outer edges of the pan and pour in the sauce in the middle of the pan, then using your spatula, start mixing everything around.  As the sauce heats and begins to boil, the cornstarch does its magic and creates a thicker, shiny sauce.  Mix thoroughly to coat everything.  If you want it saucier, just pour in another 1/4 cup of broth and mix it around.  If you didn't use broth, just add more water with a another 1/2 teaspoon each of soy sauce and oyster sauce.  Cover the pan for another couple minutes, then turn off the heat and let it rest for a couple more minutes then serve. 

Optional Sauce:  This dish is also excellent with a Japanese twist using teriyaki sauce instead.  And I love this simple homemade teriyaki sauce from Savory Sweet Life. When I do it this way, I add some broth or water with soy and oyster sauces into the pan as mentioned above, then right before the end, I pour in the teriyaki sauce and stir everything together to coat it.

Tomato, Avocado and Corn Salsa

Summer is here and I have many recipes I would love to share here, but I'm going to start with this one and hopefully add photos very soon.  I'm starting with this one because it's great when you need to bring an appetizer with you to a summer barbecue and perfect for the upcoming July 4th holiday.  Not to mention it's delicious and simple and the sort of thing you can make with ingredients from your own garden or local farmer's market.

Tomato, Avocado and Corn Salsa

2 avocados, pitted and cut into small cubes
3 medium tomatoes, diced
2 ears of corn or 1 ½ cups corn kernels
Fresh chopped cilantro (about ¼ of a bunch)
1 lime
Salt and fresh ground pepper
½ tsp chili powder

Place corn with the husks still on into the microwave and cook for 5 minutes to steam.  Or you can remove the husks, wrap with plastic wrap and then steam.  (no need to do this if using kernels already off the cob).  When cool, use a knife to slice downward and remove the kernels.  Can be done in advance and refrigerated.
Place corn, diced avocado and tomato into a bowl, season with salt, pepper and chili powder, squeeze all the juice from the lime and add cilantro.  Gently mix to incorporate it all.  Serve with tortilla chips or use to serve on tacos or in a salad.
Make ahead option- Combine everything except the avocado and just the juice from half of the lime.  When ready to serve, cut the avocado and add it with the remaining half of the lime juice and stir to combine.
Other items like diced onion, jalapenos and crushed garlic are great additions, but it’s very fresh and simple as written.