pasta

What’s not to love about marinara? The tangy, slightly acidic bite of tomatoes, soft, sweet onions, the complex flavors of the finely chopped herbs! Oh, I wish you could take a bite of this sauce! And did I mention the versatility of this goodness in a jar? On pasta, as a pizza sauce, as a dipping sauce for breadsticks and calzones, there are so many ways to use marinara I could make countless posts just with recipes for those dishes alone. But a lot of people are so intimidated by making it fresh– enter the jarred sauce. But, stop. STOP. Put the store brought marinara sauce and slowly walk away. It’s not as hard as you think it is. My 30-Minute Marinara Sauce takes…well, 30 minutes to make and you’ll think twice about buying jarred sauce again.

When my oldest was a toddler, she insisted on having psh-ghet-tiiiii as often as possible. As a result, we’ve eaten a lot of spaghetti over the years. While marinara sauce is a relatively low-fat sauce, I wanted to make it a vehicle to deliver as much nutrition to my then three year old as possible. I came up with the perfect solution: chia seeds. Yes, CHIA SEEDS. In the sauce. Surprise! These little seeds sitting in your cupboard can be used in something other than smoothies. And they just sort of melt into the sauce so you can’t even taste them. Sneaky, sneaky!

I prefer chunky, “meaty” marinara sauce. They offer a sharp contrast to the texture of whatever they’re paired with. Top some al dente pasta with the marinara sauce, add some hand-shaven parmesan cheese (or grated if you’re in that camp) paired with a crusty piece of bread and you’ve just created my carb-friendly favorite. There is just something about a homemade pot of marinara sauce that puts a smile of my face. In fact, as soon as I finished making it, I grabbed a crusty roll and dipped right in.

Should you be so lucky as to get a piece of the perfectly softened garlic in the marinara, you are in for a piece of treat. While uncooked, the garlic is strong and pungent but once cooked in the sauce, it becomes this soft, sweet chewable treat. I fish out the pieces of garlic. I eat them off my kids’ plates. I offer extra dessert to them if they give me their garlic. I am the garlic hoarder.

30-Minute Marinara is the perfect sauce to make over the weekend, store in an airtight container in the fridge and use during the week. It keeps in the fridge up to 2 weeks and even longer in the freezer, about 3 months. Or if you’re canner, can it and make it last EVEN LONGER (if you don’t eat it first). I’m not a canner because food doesn’t last in my house long enough to be canned. And you put in a nifty mason jar, it’s a great present. Giving someone a homemade jar of marinara sauce: now that’s love!

30-Minute Marinara Sauce

Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 35 mins
Yield: 8 cups 1x

Scale

Ingredients

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz whole, peeled tomatoes
`3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp good quality olive oil
1 large red onion, chopped
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp fresh minced parsley
1/2 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
2 tsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp chia seeds
3 cups warm water

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a large pot, on medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until they become translucent, about 3-5 minutes.
Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minutes.
Add in tomato puree and whole tomatoes. Using the back of a spoon or a potato masher, lightly mash the mixture to break up the whole tomatoes, leaving some pieces.
Add in sugar, salt, basil, thyme, oregano and bay leaves. Stir in water. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, to prevent sticking.
Take off heat and stir in parsley and chia seeds.

We are having unusually warm weather for November, not that I’m complaining. The warmth combined with colorful leaves makes me want lighter, summery food but with an abundance of winter squash in my kitchen, I gave a makeover to a classically decadent food that’s not so easy on the calories or figure. Really, who doesn’t love lasagna, right? I mean, just look at it!

The layers and layers of noodles, hot, gooey cheese, homemade chicken sausage (I promise, recipe to come!), fresh spinach (thank you, indian summer) mixed with sweet ricotta cheese, and creamy butternut squash folded into a bubbly béchamel sauce are baked to perfection. And vegetarians and meatless monday lovers take note, this recipe can easily be made meatless. Simply leave out the chicken sausage and you’re good to go.

Roasting fresh butternut squash gives the squash the consistency that gives the sauce body and texture. Don’t puree the roasted squash either–you want that texture. Just mash lightly with a fork and break it up a little bit more when you fold it into the béchamel.

The key to keeping the lasagna from becoming a soupy mess is in the sauce. The béchamel needs to be velvety and smooth, so it can handle the texture of the squash. Whisking the roux continuously guarantees buff arms and an amazing white sauce.

I like to,both alternate the direction of my noodles in each layer and overlap them so it holds together when you cut out pieces. So, if I lay the noodles lengthwise with the first layer, I lay them down widthwise the next and so forth, putting each noodle slightly over the preceding one. After a lot of failures, I have learned to undercook the noodles (and always salt the water well!) so they absorb the liquid from the sauce in the oven- cook them until they’re pliable, about 5-7 minutes. Trust me, you will not eat mushy noodles and sauce if you do it my way.

Roasted Butternut Squash & Chicken Sausage Lasagna

Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 50 mins
Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
Yield: 8-10 1x

Scale

Ingredients

1 lb mild or spicy italian chicken sausage, casing removed
2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
12 lasagna noodles, cooked al dente
3 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella
for the sauce:
4 tbsp olive oil
5 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cups roasted butternut squash (instructions below)
2 cups reduced fat milk
2 cups water
for the spinach and ricotta mixture:
2 cups packed spinach, chopped
2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Heat the oil in a saucepan on medium high heat. Add sausage and lightly mash the meat while browning to break it up, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from pan once lightly golden brown and set aside.
To make the sauce: Heat 4 tbsp olive oil and add a pinch of the flour to test the temperature. If the flour starts sizzling add the remaining flour in, while whisking rigorously, so no lumps form. Use the whisk to scrape off the sausage bits. Cook for 1 minute. Slow add milk while continuing to whisk, preventing lump from forming. Whisk in water, 1 cup at a time. Continue whisking until the sauce starts to boil, about 2-3 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer to thicken sauce, about 3 minutes. The sauce will slowly bubble. Remove from heat and gently whisk in the cooked butternut squash, until fully incorporated.
To make the spinach and cheese mixture In a large bowl, lightly beat egg with a wire whisk. Add ricotta and salt and beat until incorporated. Stir in parmesan cheese and spinach. Set aside.
Lightly grease a 9X13, oven-safe pan. Spread 1 cup of sauce at the bottom on the pan. Layer 4 lasagna noodles, slightly overlapping so all the noodles fit, lengthwise. Spread 1/3 of the spinach and ricotta cheese mixture onto the noodles. Add 1/3 of the cooked sausage. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzerella cheese. Top with 1 cup sauce.
Repeat layer, this time, layering the noodles widthwise, overlapping. Continue for 2 more layers.
For the final layer, line with remaining noodles, add remaining sauce and top with remaining mozzarella cheese.
Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake on the middle rack in the oven for 30-35 minutes.
Remove foil and continue baking for 5-10 minutes.
Move the pan to the top rack and turn oven to full broil. Carefully watch as the cheese browns on top, 3-4 minutes.
Remove from oven and let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Notes

to roast butternut squash:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and remove ‘guts’ with an ice cream scoop. Coat the squash with cooking spray and lay on a cookie sheet, faced down. Spray with cooking spray over the skin as well.
Cook for 35-40 minutes, until tender and the flesh is easily pierced with a fork. Let cool.
When cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh from the skin and discard skin. Lightly mash and break up with a fork.