Spaghetti alla Marinara

Everyone has their favorite pasta recipe, but this simple spaghetti with marinara sauce is a pure classic. Marinara sauce is a celebration of the tomato, where light seasonings combine to emphasize the flavor, texture, and sweetness of this Italian staple ingredient.

It is easy to forget today, when our conception of Italian cuisine relies so heavily on the tomato, that this fruit was unknown to the Europeans until Columbus ventured to the New World in 1492. This humble fruit, so integral to cultures worldwide today, was initially cultivated by the Aztecs and Incas. These tomatoes - small, yellow berries - were the tomatoes brought back to the Old World by European explorers. Initially met with suspicion due to its resemblance to toxic plants, the tomato slowly gained acceptance in Italy and Spain.

Despite folklore suggesting the first marinara sauce was devised by Neapolitan sailors aboard ships returning to Spain, little evidence exists to support this theory. We do not have the first recorded tomato-based recipe until the 18th century, in the Italian cookbook "Lo Scalco alla Moderna", and even this recipe more closely resembles a tomato based salsa than a modern tomato sauce.

For the best tomato sauce, you should use San Marzano tomatoes. These tomatoes are prized for their elongated shape, thick flesh, and low acidity. For truly authentic San Marzano tomatoes, they must be grown in the Campania region of Italy, in the rich volcanic soil in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.

This spaghetti marinara recipe is delicious as-is, with the simple flavors of the marinara, but if you'd like to dress it up, feel free to add ground beef or seafood to the sauce.