Origin of Marinara Sauce
Marinara sauce is a key ingredient in countless Italian dishes, from lasagna to chicken parmesan. Marinara sauce is a southern Italian tomato sauce usually made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs and sometimes pepper-flacks. However, there are many variations. Some of these include the addition of capers, olives and onion.
Traditional southern Italian cuisine utilizes this sauce to add flavor to pasta, rice, seafood and pizza. This sauce is also widely used in Italian-American cuisine which has diverged significantly from its Old World origins.
Italians refer to marinara only in association with other recipes. For instance, spaghetti alla marinara literally translates to mariner's spaghetti. However, tomato sauce alone in Italy is called salsa al pomodoro or pummarola.
The exact location of Marinara Sauce’s creation seems to be lost to time, but it was likely first developed in the southern region of Italy, in either Naples or Sicily, after tomatoes first appeared in Europe via explorers from the New World in the 16th century. This comes well after the first forms of pasta arrived, which arrived on Italian shores with Arab traders in the 12 century.
Tomato sauce is first referenced in the Italian cookbook Lo Scalco alla Moderna (The Modern Steward), written by Italian chef Antonio Latini in 1692. Meanwhile, a recipe for pasta with tomato sauce appears in the 1790 cookbook, L’Apicio Moderno, by Chef Francesco Leonardi.
As for how a particular preparation of tomato sauce came to be known as “marinara,” one needs to look toward the sea. “Marinara” translates to “seafaring”—or colloquially to “sailor style” or “mariner style.” It was given the name marinara not because it was once a seafood-style sauce, but because it was the preferred meal of Italy’s merchants during long expeditions at sea.
How to make Marinara Sauce
Ingredients: (Marinara Sauce Recipe)
500 g of fresh tomatoes (fresh and ripe enough)
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 tablespoon of freshly chopped Italian parsley
salt to taste
Instructions:
Throw tomatoes in to boiling water and let them boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Then remove the skin with your hands. It will come off easily.
Transfer in to a medium sized bowl and Crush them coarsely with a fork
Heat a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium high heat, add extra virgin olive oil and crushed garlic, cook for few seconds.
Immediately add crushed tomatoes to the pan stir well, turn down the heat to medium low and let it cook for about 25 minutes.
Add salt, oregano and finely chopped fresh parsley. Stir to mix the spices well and turn off the heat.
The marinara sauce is ready. You can use it for dressing pasta or pizza. Or it can be eaten plain, either hot or cold, depending on how you want to use it.