Okay, but this is a traditional rustic marinara, and it won't take hours.
Ingredients - serves two to three (this happens to be a gluten free/vegan dish also, but most traditional marinara's are)
6 Tomatoes
4 Cloves garlic
1 Onion
1 Cup or Top 2 inches of a bunch of celery (about 1 cup)
1/2 Green or Bell Pepper
1 Package Fresh Basil or 20 to 30 leaves
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
Sea Salt 2-3 teaspoons
Black Pepper 1-2 teaspoons
I always bruise my garlic and let it sit for 10-15 minutes before slicing and adding to warm coconut oil. By bruising the garlic and letting it sit it develops wonderful enzymes and sweetness. It also makes it easy to remove the skin. Just use the flat of a knife and smash the bulb a bit. Then peel and slice thin (I go for 1/8 inch or 2mm slices), then gently heat at medium-low, or lower, you do not want boiling just a gentle sweat. This is one of the tricks of a gourmet, garlic is sensitive to heat, just gently sweat it till opaque if you brown it you killed it and the oil, toss it and do it again...
While the garlic is sweating dice the onion and add to the pan, be gentle with those but they can be added shortly after or with the garlic, sweating these to opaque will take five to ten minutes. I usually add the onion soon after the garlic, I just keep cutting and adding, celery next. Gentle sweating of both the garlic and onion will mildly caramelize and add natural sweetness, you can't duplicate that with sugar
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Take a bunch of celery and slice down through the leafy tops, looking for a thin slice about 1/8 inch (2 mms), this keeps the leaves small and they are critical to flavor, if you don't use celery tops it isn't rustic or traditional. I use the first two inches about 1 cup.
Green pepper, dice to 1/4 inch (5 mm) and add to pan. *Note: I am a minimalist/pragmatist and I use all of the edible vegetable (that means the brown dried tips of the celery went into the pan), a tip for those who want to capture true flavor, eat the core of the green pepper. The best way to attack a green pepper is to slice off the top in a way to sever the woody stem from the core, then take a spoon or a fingernail and scrape the seeds from the core, once you pull it out. Once the core is de-seeded then dice to 1/8 inch pieces and add to pan, I waste no pepper pith either, dice it and chuck it in...
To de-seed the tomatoes you cut them in half on the equator, then squeeze them forcing the seeds and water out. One tomato should take 20-30 seconds to de-seed. Do NOT skin, once de-seeded dice into 1/2 inch or 10mm cubes. Add to pan and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
Add Sea salt and pepper adjust to taste. (Salt is necessary to a human being continuing to function and blood pressure is not a real concern, it's a fake issue made up to sell you drugs and make you afraid, in Europe they have regimes to help increase blood pressure.)
Taste to add more salt and pepper as needed and add sliced basil. Basil I just bunch up and slice thin 1/8 inch (2 mm). Add to pan and cook another 10 minutes.
Now if you are wise you will skip possibly dangerous and nutritionally vacant pasta and use a head of cauliflower instead. How I prepare the cauliflower is fun, suffice to say I waste zero cauliflower, the leaves, stem and core all eat just fine. I just adjust the size to how much cooking time it will take. I put the cauliflower in a pan with three tablespoons coconut oil and sauté till tender crisp.
Then plate the cauliflower top with marinara and if they don't like it kick em out, and get some Mediterranean friends they will love you...
