Pasta Sauce Tips Jeff Mauro Learned From His Mom

Jeff Mauro knows a great pasta sauce takes a lot less than you think. The Food Network star and former host of "The Kitchen" has had a long career that took him from a catering company to Le Cordon Bleu to winning "Food Network Star," but it all started with a love of food that he got from his Italian-American family in Chicago. The cooking of his neighborhood and the Italian-American community has continued to inspire him to this day, so when Mauro partnered with Bayer Aspirin to promote heart health, we talked to him about his family's best tips for making a fresh, healthy marinara sauce.

Mauro tells us, "My mom was always about, like when making a red sauce, marinara sauce, it's just like the right amount of garlic and oil, really low." He warns that with pasta sauce, you don't need to go too hard on the garlic, saying, "You're just melting it with the dry herbs in there, just kind of sweating all that garlic out while you bloom the herbs." After that, it is a matter of cooking your tomato sauce low and slow. Marinara sauce is all about the flavor of the tomato with minimal additions, so time is one of the most important ingredients. Mauro says, "[Take your time] and make it a day before. That's the goal. Let the magic, you know. Something magical happens." And Mauro reminds us that making it early really does matter, as low and slow sauces are always better the next day.

If you follow the advice of Mauro's mom, you are only going to need five things: tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, herbs, and salt. Unless you have freshly picked tomatoes at a time when tomatoes are actually in season, canned tomatoes should always be your choice. That's because the best quality canned tomatoes are minimally processed and canned at the height of freshness, giving them a superior flavor to "fresh" tomatoes that are picked early and left to sit on the shelf to ripen. Olive oil is going to add all the richness and its own flavor, so you want to splurge on a good one. While good extra virgin olive oil can break down and turn acrid at high temperatures, you are going to be simmering the garlic and herbs at a pretty low temperature, so it's okay to use it here.

That just leaves the herbs. The classic choice is a sprig of fresh basil, which will add sweetness as well as a fresh flavor. Fresh oregano is also a great choice, and bay leaf can add some extra complexity if you want it. Of course, a dried Italian herb seasoning blend is also plenty good. Just don't go with too heavy a hand here, since again, this is a tomato first sauce. Then all you need to do is cook the sauce over a low heat until it has thickened and turned deep red. And yeah, listen to Mama Mauro and let it rest overnight.