Marinara Sauce from an Irishman

Marinara Sauce

Everyone has their own sauce recipe. Here's mine. I got it from my Irish Mom, and tweeked it to my own taste over the years. I have had no complaints from my Italian family.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium – large onion, diced

4 -5 cloves garlic, diced

1 pint fresh sliced mushrooms

1 28 oz. can Tuttorosso Crushed Tomatoes

1 28 oz. can Tuttorosso Tomato Sauce

1 28 oz. can Tuttorosso Tomato Puree

1 small can of tomato paste

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

1 ½ tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon pepper

1 ½ tablespoons sugar

Directions:

1. Heat the oil to medium-high in a large sauté pan. Add the onions, mushrooms, and garlic and cook until soft, but not burning the garlic.

2. Add to a large sauce pot (min. 8 qt.) the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, puree, and paste and blend with a large spoon. Add the onions, mushrooms, and garlic.

3. Stir in the seasoning, salt, pepper, and sugar. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for at least an hour. Make adjustments with seasoning if needed.

·      * I like to cook the sauce a day ahead so the flavors meld together nicely. With a ceramic pot, I can leave the sauce in it overnight in the fridge. I recommend transferring to a large bowl after cooling off enough if you cooked in a metal pot.

·      ** I usually end up freezing a lot of the sauce since we never use it up fast enough. I put it in leftover Chinese soup containers. One pint container will do for a meal for the two of use easily.

·      *** The sauce goes well with meatballs, but I make it without meat because most of my “diners” prefer it that way. You can always add meatballs or browned chopmeat.

Shrimp Egg Rolls (Air Fryer Recipe)

Shrimp Egg Rolls

Serves: 8

Ingredients

·       1 tablespoon vegetable oil

·       ½ head green or savoy cabbage, finely shredded

·       1 cup shredded carrots

·       1 cup canned bean sprouts, drained

·       1 tablespoon soy sauce

·       ½ teaspoon sugar

·       1 teaspoon sesame oil

·       ¼ cup hoisin sauce

·       freshly ground black pepper

·       1 pound cooked shrimp, diced

·       ¼ cup scallions

·       8 egg roll wrappers

·       vegetable oil

·       duck sauce

Instructions

1.     Pre-heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil and cook the cabbage, carrots and bean sprouts until they start to wilt – about 3 minutes. Add the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, hoisin sauce and black pepper. Sauté for a few more minutes. Stir in the shrimp and scallions and cook until the vegetables are just tender. Transfer the mixture to a colander in a bowl to cool. Press or squeeze out any excess water from the filling so that you don’t end up with soggy egg rolls.

2.     To make the egg rolls, place the egg roll wrappers on a flat surface with one of the points facing towards you so they look like diamonds. Dividing the filling evenly between the eight wrappers, spooning the mixture onto the center of the egg roll wrappers. Spread the filling across the center of the wrappers from the left corner to the right corner, but leave 2 inches from each corner empty. Brush the empty sides of the wrapper with a little water. Fold the bottom corner of the wrapper tightly up over the filling, trying to avoid making any air pockets. Fold the left corner in toward the center and then the right corner toward the center. It should now look like an envelope. Tightly roll the egg roll from the bottom to the top open corner. Press to seal the egg roll together, brushing with a little extra water if need be. Repeat this technique with all 8 egg rolls.

3.     Pre-heat the air fryer to 370ºF.

4.     Spray or brush all sides of the egg rolls with vegetable oil. **Air-fry four egg rolls at a time for 8 minutes, 

turning them over halfway through the cooking time.

** You can deep fry these also.

Serve hot with duck sauce, thai dipping sauce, or your favorite dipping sauce