Hello fellow food lovers! This week I’m introducing a dear friend of mine as my guest for this Tasty Tuesdays’ post. A couple weeks ago during a party at her house, she made some homemade marinara and calamari to die for! Well…okay, maybe not to die for literally, but lemme tell you, I enjoy some good calamari and her marinara sauce was so yummy that I asked her to guest post so we could share! So, with no further adieu, here’s the lovely Mrs. Laura…
I’m so excited to be guest blogging for Tasty Tuesday! I have the best time cooking for others, and putting my own twist on recipes as I learn more and more about cooking.
Traditionally, my cooking style is “throw-stuff-in-a-pot-and-see-what-happens”, so sharing my recipe has proven harder than I initially expected. I combined a pizza sauce recipe that is a favorite in my house, and some basic essentials of any good Italian tomato sauce. Although I used canned tomatoes (it’s January, after all), this sauce tasted fresh and flavorful. I would highly recommend adding fresh herbs from your garden if they’re available to add a little authenticity.
Start with a 2 quart (or bigger) sauce pan – I always try to make this in big batches so I can freeze it for later (add ground beef for spaghetti, etc). Cover the bottom of the pan with olive oil and add 2-3 cloves of minced garlic. Put over medium heat until it starts to sizzle a little, but stir a little so the garlic doesn’t burn.
When the oil is hot (usually about 2-3 minutes), pour in your tomato puree and crushed tomatoes. The combination of these will give you the consistency of marinara sauce that you are familiar with. Mix together well.
And now for the fun part! For Italian food, I always go for the basil first, and add liberally. Again, if you have fresh basil, chop it finely and throw it in. Other essentials are sea salt, garlic salt, black pepper, and a pinch of ground red pepper (for a little kick). I also used oregano and Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute for good measure. I find it best to add all the spices to the top before stirring, because it gives me an idea of what to add. There isn’t an exact science to this – it’s a matter of personal preference, and the more you make this, the better you will know what you like.
To counteract the acidity of the tomatoes, I like to add about a tablespoon of brown sugar. This doesn’t make it sweet, but tones down the tanginess of the tomatoes so you can really taste the seasoning.
Once you have added all seasonings, stir well. Bring your mixture to a bubble, then cover and turn to low heat. The longer your sauce simmers, the better the flavors will mix.
As a general rule, I simmer my sauce for an hour, remove from heat, and refrigerate overnight. When you want to heat it back up, put it back on the stove over low heat, and stir occasionally.
For the calamari, I used frozen rings I bought from a local seafood market. Now that I’ve done it once, I would prefer to get larger pieces and more variety, but these worked for my maiden voyage in seafood frying. I heated cooking oil (I used peanut because we had some left over from frying a turkey a few weeks back) in a medium sized frying pan as I made the batter. I took about 1-1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour, 2 cloves of fresh minced garlic, salt, pepper, and a pinch of ground red pepper and mixed them well. Then, I added water until I had a slightly thick batter. Dip the calamari rings in this batter, and then roll it in plain bread crumbs. Throw these in the hot oil for about 2 minutes – any longer will make them chewy. Be sure to do small batches, and scoop them out with a slotted spoon and place them on a paper towel to drain off excess oil.
Voilà! A simple and delicious appetizer that will impress guests and fool them into thinking you are a master chef!
~Mrs. Laura~
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