Marinara Sauce

We eat a lot of pasta in this house. I'm sorry, FOOD TV superstars. I watch you gleefully toss a palmful of salt into every pasta pot, insisting that I "must" do the same. No, I mustn't. If he knew I was cooking like that, Dr. E would give me a disapproving glare, and I can't take it. Besides, if I make a flavorful sauce, why do I need salty pasta?

Here's a sodium wake-up call:

How much sodium in a teaspoon of salt?  2325 mg
Dietary guidelines for people with high blood pressure? >1500 mg/day
How much sodium does your body actually need per day to function? ~250 mg (ouch!)

Remember when I said "canned sauces must go"? Sodium in a half-cup of Ragu pasta sauce: 300-360 mg/serving.  Get that? 1/4 of your allowable sodium intake gobbled up in a half-cup of pasta sauce. And let's be real. Who eats only a half-cup of pasta sauce at a sitting? By the way, don't even think you can get around that "canned sauces" blackout by buying plain canned tomato sauce and doctoring it, either. Unless you buy the no-salt-added kind, canned tomato sauce is anywhere from 200+ to 400+ mg/serving. And how much in a serving? 1/4 cup. What. a. downer.

The good news is this: healthy marinara sauce is easy-peasy to make yourself. Here is a delicious, fast, easy homemade marinara sauce for some pasta. It is 100% developed by us, so there is no link to an original recipe. If you use a pound of dry pasta, it serves 4 or thereabouts. It should probably serve more people, but we are hogs.

Puree

Marinara Sauce  (~30 mg sodium per 1/2 c of sauce)
Extra virgin olive oil
1 29 oz can tomato puree (I use Contadina or Red Gold)
3-4 plump garlic cloves, pressed or finely chopped (cloves are sections of a bulb)
1 small-medium onion
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 Tbsp garlic powder (NOT garlic salt)
1 Tbsp onion powder (NOT onion salt)
1 bay leaf
~2 Tbsp granulated sugar

1. Toss onion, dried oregano and dried basil in food processor and chop finely. I use a Cuisinart 4-cup processor. Yes, you can chop with a knife.
2. Heat some olive oil (1-2 tsp) in a 3-qt saucepan over medium heat. Toss in pressed garlic and saute briefly. If your oil is too hot, you will scorch the garlic, and trust me, that's disgusting. Patience, grasshopper.
3. Once garlic has turned white and smells delectable, add bay leaf and the onion/herb mixture from the processor and heat until it begins to add to the heavenly chorus.
4. Add the tomato puree. Be careful, it will probably plop and blubble. 
5. Add the garlic powder, onion powder, and granulated sugar.
6. Reduce the heat to low, slap a lid on the marinara sauce, and let it go for a while--at least 15 minutes. Check it once in a while and get busy boiling your pasta. Remember! No salt in that boiling water.
7. Remove the bay leaf and serve over pasta noodles of your choice.

Notes:

1. I can get from "maybe we'll have pasta tonight" to food-on-the-table in less than 30 minutes with this recipe.

Paste

2. Canned tomato puree (always my preference for marinara sauces) or canned crushed tomatoes (also ok) have far less sodium than canned tomato sauce. Because lower-sodium alternatives are readily available, we always avoid canned tomato sauce. Sauce and puree and crushed and paste are all different products.  Crazy, huh? That's a photo of paste to the left. I don't even have canned tomato sauce in my house for a photo. Finally, check those food labels. You'll be amazed at the difference in sodium levels among brands. 
3. No meat? No meat. Two reasons. First, our son is a vegetarian. Second, ground beef has some sat fat, which we avoid, no matter how much we love the taste. Could we use ground turkey or chicken instead? Or a plant-based meat substitute? Yep. If you want red meat, add it. Just remember that you are adding sat fat when you add red meat. I'm not anti-red meat. I love red meat. I wish we could eat more of it, but on a lo-sat fat diet, it's a BIG no-no. In a sauce, we don't miss it, so I leave it out.
4. In summer when we have fresh basil and oregano, we use them. Chop 'em in the food processor separately from the onion, and add them closer to the end of cooking, and NOT in step 3. To cook them that long would destroy their lovely, fresh pop of flavor.
5. I always add fresh (raw) garlic and onion as well as powdered. My husband does not. He always uses fresh and only sometimes uses powdered if he thinks the sauce needs it. See what you think. It's not rocket science. Enjoy!