Marinara Sauce

Over the years, I tried several different recipes for marinara sauces and spaghetti sauces. Not quite liking any of them, I started altering recipes until I created one that I enjoyed. I think this marinara sauce is pretty versatile and is also great to serve as a base for both spaghetti sauce as well as pizza sauce. You can tweak it up however you want and it's pretty easy to make.

Marinara Sauce

Ingredients
28 oz. crushed tomatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 shallots, minced

2 teaspoons oregano

2 teaspoons basil

1-2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

Directions

Heat oil and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and butter. Season lightly with salt and pepper and cook until garlic is fragrant. Add oregano and basil and cook for a minute longer. Add tomatoes and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and cover to prevent splashing. Simmer for a few hours, stirring occasionally. Taste and season with more salt and pepper is desired. Remove from heat and pull out the bay leaves before serving.