Great recipes are where you find them. On a trip to visit our friends Bucky and Mary Lainhart late winter, we started our visit at their Kee Kee Run Cafe in Clyde, New York, between Rochester and Syracuse, in the Finger Lakes Region. Beautiful country, great friends. Debbie loves snow. They had lots of snow just after we arrived.
After leaving early in the morning from Dallas and connecting in Baltimore, we'd skipped lunch—and breakfast. While it's perfectly okay for this guy to miss a few meals, not so much for the queen, Debbie. I was a little afraid she might chew off part of her thumb if we didn't get some hearty nourishment into her shapely little body soon.
Bucky tempted her with their soups, first. They were delicious, especially their beans and greens variety. But Debbie almost went limp when they brought a dish that included their marinara. One taste of that marinara and she was done—totally focused on that tomato-based delicacy.
Since then, she's eaten it on chicken, fish, pasta, and other stuff I don't even know about. We've made two batches since then, and whenever I see red, it's marinara on her plate, in a bowl, on whatever she's eating at the time. And, a confession is in order here. I love it, too. It's one of those rare sauce recipes I've actually enjoyed as a main course. It stands alone as it enhances many dishes.
Give it a try. Really good stuff.
Ingredients
1/2 bottle of Marsala wine (denser than most reds)
2 28 oz. cans of Mento San Marzano peeled tomatoes
2 lbs. of peeled onions, chopped
4 ounces chopped garlic
1 Tsp. red pepper flakes
Salt to taste
1 cup olive oil
1-ounce fresh basil, chopped
In a large sauce pan:
Cover bottom of pan with olive oil on medium heat.
Add garlic and brown it.
Add wine after garlic is brown.
Add chopped onion and red pepper and stir.
Cook and stir until onions are soft and clear.
Open tomatoes, crush them by hand, add salt until you can taste it.
Bring to simmer, constantly stirring for 20 minutes.
Stir in chopped basil.
Take off heat and enjoy.
Reprinted with permission from Pond Boss Magazine
