Spaghetti Marinara For Buddy - Elf🎄

Name: Spaghetti Marinara For Buddy - Elf🎄
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 onion (diced); 3 garlic cloves (minced); 2 cans tomato (chopped); 1 tbsp tomato paste; 2 tsp cocoa powder; 6 fresh basil leaves; 2 tsp dried oregano; 1 bay leaf; 1/4 cup red wine; 1/2 cup water; Salt & Pepper to taste; 250 gm spaghetti; 1 tbsp olive oil; Parmesan cheese (grated); Fresh basil

Christmas Movie Recipe Inspiration #7 With this easy spaghetti marinara. It is such a simple and easy recipe to make during the holidays that can be made ahead of time to feed a crowd.

Welcome to my brand new Christmas recipe series where I make foods/recipes from my favourite Christmas movies. We are on the seventh movie recipe with Elf and Spaghetti Marinara. If you missed the previous movies, check out them out in my recipes page.

A Little Back Story To Christmas Movies…

Growing up I loved decorating the house in November for Christmas. Once it hit 15th November, my tree and lights were up, I might have taken time to put everything else up as the month progressed but the tree and lights set the mood and the vibes were in full swing. I would put off all the other lights in the house, in the evening and turn on the festive lights. Switch on my favorite Christmas movie and in those days we needed to have CD’s, which I must say I did. Not much has changed since. I get started with my Christmas movies the moment the tree and lights are up. As I’ve grown up, I have noticed the food scenes in these movies with more intent and honestly I love them so much it inspired me to recreate some of these recipes. Hence I am here at the brink of a new series and so excited to share my love for Christmas movies and their food scenes with you.

Spaghetti Marinara & Elf?

Elf is a movie based on a human orphan who accidentally finds his way to the North Pole as a baby and is subsequently raised as an Elf. He realizes with time he is too huge to be an elf and makes his way to New York. After he eats spaghetti for the first time he thinks all humans must eat spaghetti all the time everywhere. For breakfast the next morning he make spaghetti with maple syrup, mini marshmallows, candy and biscuits. Which sounds as bad as it would look. So here is my spaghetti marinara sauce that I would like to teach Buddy aka Elf to make for all his friends back home.

What ingredients do you need to make this Spaghetti marinara?

Marinara sauce –

This is not your average marinara sauce and it not a classic either so haters don’t come for me. We have the basic ingredients of onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, fresh and dry herbs. I have added re wine and cocoa powder which sound odd but add a depth of flavor and color to the sauce making it more rich and intense. A little water goes a long way to help the sauce find the right consistency. For my fresh herbs I’ve used basil but you can use dried basil as well. I have used dried oregano as well and you cannot skip it.

Pasta –

I have served this with spaghetti you can use any pasta you prefer. We do need a little of the pasta water to help mix the sauce and pasta together before serving. I like adding more olive oil on the top with a generous grating of parmesan cheese and fresh basil.

What equipment do you need to make this Spaghetti marinara?

To make the sauce we need a large sauté pan or stock pot. A wooden spatula to make the sauce as well. You will need to cook the pasta in a large stock pot. A pari of tongs help to remove the cooked pasta from the pot and tossing it in the sauce. A grater to grate the cheese, I use a microplane grater.

How to make this Spaghetti marinara?

In a large sauté pan on medium heat, add olive oil, diced onions, garlic and a little salt, let this cook until soft. Add the tomato paste, dried and fresh herbs and stir well. Cook for a minute and add the red wine into the pan, cook until the liquid evaporates. Add the canned tomatoes, water and stir. Cover and cook for 20-30 mins on low low heat until thick and you can smell the BEST tomato sauce aroma. Season with salt and pepper, take off the heat and set aside. Cook the pasta as per the packet instructions and save some of the cooking liquid. Toss the drained pasta into some of the sauce in a large platter, add olive oil, parmesan cheese and some of the cooking liquid if needed. Serve hot.

How to serve & store this Spaghetti marinara?

I would recommend serving this sauce with spaghetti but fettuccini is also a good choice. Per it with red wine and if you wan to serve some meat with it, you can add meatballs into the sauce to make spaghetti meatballs in a hurry. I would recommend storing the cooled sauce in air tight containers in the fridge for 1 week but in the freezer for over a month. When ready to use, defrost and heat it over the stove on low heat.

Looking for more pasta recipes this Christmas?

My next recipe will be based on the Christmas movie Love Actually make sure to stay tuned and subscribe to my newsletters to get notified when post new recipes. Now that we have covered how to make this Spaghetti Marinara from Elf, you can have a look at the recipe video on my socials but let’s get to it. Don’t forget to follow along for more fun recipe inspiration.

If you try this recipe out, don’t forget to share it with me on instagram so I can see how it turned out. I’d love nothing more than to chat with you on your cooking/baking.