Marinara Sauce

Marinara sauce is a tomato based sauce from southern Italy. It is lovely just as is with pasta and parmesan or it can dress up numerous other dishes.

Tip: to make cheat's Bolognese sauce, mix some of the freezer mince with marinara sauce.

Ingredients
4kg tomatoes (fresh (chopped) or canned)
4 cups diced onions
2 cups grated carrots
2 cups diced celery
4-8 cloves of garlic, chopped
Salt, pepper and other seasonings to taste

Sauté the onions, carrots and celery in a large pot, adding the garlic once they start to soften. Once the onion mix is soft and fragrant, add the tomatoes and seasoning, put the lid on and let the tomatoes simmer on low-medium heat. If you're using canned tomatoes, just let everything heat through. When the tomatoes are soft (about 10-20min), transfer the mixture to a blender in batches, or blitz with a stick blender until smooth.
Return to the pot and simmer on low heat with the lid on for 30-60min. This just intensifies the flavour and softens the texture even more. Remove form the heat and let cool to room temperature before dividing into containers to freeze. I like storing my marinara sauce in 1 cup containers.

Note: You can spice up your marinara sauce by adding some wine (red or white), italian herbs, olives, red peppers, chillis, beetroot and other veggies you may find on sale or have in the fridge. Just keep in mind that the colour of the vegetables will effect the colour of your sauce. I recommend sticking to reds, oranges and purples and avoiding greens.