This is not a drill. We pit Jersey Housewife star Teresa Giudice (the one who went to prison 😬) against celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse to see whose marinara recipe is better. We know it sounds crazy and unfair, but hear me out. Kris Jenner's mac and cheese beat MARTHA STEWART'S. It was a major snackdown upset that taught us to never judge a cook before tasting their pasta.
Also, Teresa probably deserves way more credit than you'd think. She's not just some rando TV star who decided to write a cookboook. She has four! Emeril has over a dozen restaurants, but again, you never know.
Although Teresa doesn't technically call this a marinara (she calls it "Snappy Red Sauce"), it basically is one — there's just onion, garlic, and crushed tomatoes. She shares the recipe in her third cookbook Fabulicious.
How did it taste? Depends on who you ask. To some, the mere five minute simmering time didn't do a whole lot flavor-wise. Her sauce, to them, tasted like canned tomatoes with a lot of garlic. But most had the opposite feeling. The majority of the team loved all the spice from the garlic and red pepper flakes and thought the sauce tasted super fresh.
Emeril's recipe depends on the same basic ingredients, though he adds water (poured from the tomato can!) too. The major difference comes down to the simmering time. He wants you to let it cook on the stovetop for at least 30 minutes.
For the record, I personally thought the half hour made a huge difference. There was more depth of flavor, I thought. But I was in a small minority that felt this way. Most thought Emeril's was kinda "blah." Even the finishing drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of Parmesan didn't win them over.
THE VERDICT
You've probably would've guessed by now that Teresa wins. Which is great for you because you can make it in about the time that it takes to boil your pasta. Even if she's all drama, her recipe is gloriously no fuss.
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