Flavorful hearty marinara sauce perfect for pasta, pizza, lasagna, polenta, sausages, and so on. Ready in about 30 minutes, this will become your favorite quick tomato sauce.
Finely chop the onion. Heat the oil and butter in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook the onions with a pinch of salt on medium-low heat for about 3 minutes.
In the meantime, grate garlic, carrots, and celery (or chop celery sticks very finely). Add to the pot with a splash of water and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring a couple of times in between.
Sprinkle the sugar on top, stir for 1 minute to caramelize slightly.
Add tomato puree, tomatoes, water, oregano, rosemary, basil, chili flakes, bay leaves. Stir and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes. Remove the lid during the last 5 minutes of the cooking time to allow the sauce to thicken slightly.
Adjust the taste with salt, pepper, a little lemon juice, and maybe some more sugar, it depends on the acidity of the tomatoes.
Turn off the heat and stir in the grated Parmesan.
You can remove the basil sprigs if you wish. You can leave the sauce chunky, or you can blend it to the desired consistency. If you blend it, remove the bay leaves first.