Marinara Dipping Sauce

The sauce is prepared in just a few simple steps.

1. Heat oil in a large skillet.
2. Toss garlic in the skillet and sauté until it turns light brown and is tender. Ascertain that you do not burn the garlic.
3. Add tomatoes, sugar, water, basil, salt, and pepper and stir well.
4. Bring the pan content to boil.
5. Cover and let it cook on low heat for about 45 minutes while stirring occasionally.
6. Serve warm.

Trivia:

The origin of this sauce is discussed in various cultural theories. One of these theories says that cooks who were aboard the Neapolitan ships when returning from America invented marinara sauce in the mid-16^th century following the introduction of tomatoes to Europe by Spaniards.

On the contrary, another theory suggests that marinara sauce was first prepared by the wives of the Neapolitan sailors when they returned from the sea.

Nonetheless, two volumes of the first Italian cookbook named Lo Saalco alla Moderna (The Modern Steward) were published in 1692 and 1694 by the Italian chef Antonio Latini. The book included tomato sauce, but this was the initial version which was more like tomato salsa.

Common dishes that Italian refer to as typical marinara items include ‘spaghetti alla marinara’ which, as the name indicates, means spaghetti with marinara/sugo/salsa in it.

Most people confuse ‘spaghetti alla marinara’ with ‘spaghetti marinara’ which is another common dish in countries such as South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. This dish, however, only involves the use of tomato sauce blended with fresh seafood.