Marinara recipe?

Rao's Tomato Basil, best store bought.

This is pretty standard. I'm similar as well in it changing everytime I make it. I like to use red pepper flakes at beginning as well.

One important step, to me, is to cook the pasta al dente. As it's cooking I'll often add some water from the boiling pasta to sauce to thin. At end of pasta cook, I put the pasta into the sauce and let it cook for a minute or two. Toss in fresh herbs and Parmesan at this step. Finally, finishing with a round of olive oil then tossing makes it saucier.

Also, don't put oil in your pasta water. It will prevent sauce from coating pasta later when you finish the dish.

Lidia Bastianich. I never tried this recipe but everything this woman cooks looks good to me. The only thing that confused me with the recipe was the addition of a peperoncino. This could mean a fresh red peperoncino pepper, which seems inappropriate. Or crushed red pepper flakes, the stuff you shake on pizza, which I think is what she really means to say. Or the green pickled peperoncini, which I also find inappropriate. So I figure you could add crushed red pepper flakes or totally omit this ingredient.

Marinara Sauce
Salsa Marinara

serves: makes about 1 quart

The difference between marinara sauce and tomato sauce is this: Marinara is a quick sauce, seasoned only with garlic, pepper, and, if you like, basil or oregano. The pieces of tomato are left chunky, and the texture of the finished sauce is fairly loose. Tomato sauce, on the other hand, is a more complex affair, starting with puréed tomatoes and seasoned with onion, carrot, celery, and bay leaf, and left to simmer until thickened and rich in flavor. Make this sauce with fresh tomatoes only when the juiciest, most flavorful ripe tomatoes are available. (Increase the amount of olive oil a little if you make the sauce with fresh tomatoes.) Otherwise, canned plum tomatoes make a delicious marinara sauce. - See more at: LINK

Ingredients
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
8 garlic cloves, peeled
1 35-ounce can peeled Italian plum tomatoes, seeded and lightly crushed, with their liquid
kosher salt
peperoncino
10 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Heat the oil in a 2 to 3-quart nonreactive saucepan over medium heat. Whack the garlic cloves with the flat side of a knife, toss them into the oil, and cook until lightly browned, about 2 minutes.

Carefully slide the tomatoes and their liquid into the oil. Bring to a boil, and season lightly with salt and peperoncino. Lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer, and cook, breaking up the tomatoes with a whisk or spoon, until the sauce is chunky and thick, about 20 minutes. Stir in the basil about 5 minutes before the sauce is finished. Taste the sauce, and season with salt and pepper if necessary. - See more at: LINK

Thanks all. Some great ideas.

I like Marcella Hazan's butter tomato sauce. Chop an onion as finely as possible, saute in butter until tender, add canned tomatoes, breaking em up with your hands. Add a pinch or two of salt. Cook until some of the butter floats free on the surface. Delicate, light, a good starting point for many other embellishments.

LINK

The recipes above are great....very similar to what I do. Try putting a little squeeze of anchovy paste in there. You'll be surprised at how much richer you can make it taste with that little addition.

I didn't know there was a difference in marinara sauce and tomato sauce.

I'm looking for something flavorful I can put on my pretend spaghetti (squash and/or zucchini strips) so I can eat a ton of it with very little points.

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first post I made in here is what I do when I'm just looking to make a spaghetti sauce for the week.

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The others look great too (I've bookmarked this thread), but I'm going with your first. That's just what I need.

Some great ideas!

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Dunno how points are derived

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Points are a combo of fat/carbs/fiber/protein

Pasta and cheese have a bunch of points, so I am always looking for things with volume but very few points.

I am a bit obsessive about it now, and will be until I hit my target weight.

I am just learning some of this because I could eat anything and a lot of it until I hit 40. Dang. The good ol' days.

ETA: I said earlier that if you're using fresh herbs to wait until the end, but that's actually only true for basil. I don't know why I worded it that way. Only fresh basil needs to wait until the end.