Favorite pasta sauces

[Sandra Levine]

We've just enjoyed my favorite end-of-summer pasta, spaghetti with uncooked tomatoes.   I hope others will share their favorites.

            Spaghetti with Uncooked Tomatoes

For each person,

Mix together:

1 large dead-ripe tomato, peeled and seeded, coarsely chopped.

1 tablespoon high extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon red wine or balsamic vinegar, optional

4  or 5 black olives, pitted and slivered

3 or 4 basil leaves, julienned

salt and pepper, to taste

Let tomato mixture sit for an hour or two.

When ready to serve, pour over cooked spaghetti.

Grated parmesan cheese may be added at the table, if desired.

Fresh mozzarella, cubed, may be added to the tomato mixture or scattered on the spaghetti just before spooning on the tomatoes, so that the cheese melts slightly.

               

(Edited by Sandra Levine at 10:03 am on Sep. 5, 2001)

[Jason Perlow]

By far I prefer the most simplistic of pasta sauces. Simple garlic aolio or a marinara or meat ragu is what I usually go for, alathough sometimes I have these immense cravings for sphagetti carbonara.

I love all the cream sauces like alfredo and pinks like alla vodka, but they bother my stomach.

[jhlurie]

Quote: from Jason Perlow on 12:09 am on Sep. 5, 2001

I love all the cream sauces like alfredo and pinks like alla vodka, but they bother my stomach.

Well there are pills to help with that.  My cousin has been taking lactose digestion pills for years and never has a problem.

[Jason Perlow]

Unfortunately, there is just so much those lactose pills can do -- They are basically designed so you can have a bit of ice cream, milk or cheese here or there without ill effect.

The problem is, Its the butterfat that kills you ,heavy alfredo sauces and such have a ton of butterfat. Lactose pills dont do jack for butterfat, not to mention kassein (sp?) intolerances which is rarer (its an ammino acid thats is in many dairy products including milk), but I happen to have it. its in my family.

And besides the fact its another pill I would have to take on top of the several I already take for allergies. Beleive me I would rather suffer in the bathroom for a few minutes on occassion.

[papachef]

I love all styles of pasta. I actually really like garlic,butter, scallions,chopped herbs and fresh grated cheese. Salt and pepper of course. The simpler the better. It also depends upon the choice of noodle.

[grahame]

At the moment, without a doubt Bottarga with Martelli Spaghettini.  Bottarga is dried tuna roe, and has a rich flavour that's hard to describe.  You only need a few shavings of it - a little goes a long way (which is lucky given the price!).   We've found its not commonly available here in Melbourne (Australia), However Sud restaurant serves it, and you can get it from the importer, Enoteca Sileno in Carlton.

Anyway, dead simple - cook the spaghettini (or other thin pasta of your choice).  Throw the pasta in a strainer, put the pot back on the heat, throw in some olive oil, add some garlic and the bottarga, throw the pasta back in and mix briefly.  Throw into bowls with a little reggiano and enjoy!

I also have a soft spot for Puttanesca sauce, especially in the colder months.

[Heather]

I like bottarga spaghetti so much that I wonder if I'll ever eat anything else with spaghetti again. Had it a couple of times at Melbourne restaurant Sud, and we bought our first block of bottarga for DIY just last weekend. We've already had bottarga spag twice this week, it's that good.

Grahame says the flavour of bottarga is hard to describe. Anchovy meets sea-urchin roe (uni), is the way I pitch it.

Heather

http://www.hgworld.com

[Katherine]

Tomatoes are in season right now. What I like to do is sauté onions, garlic, and red peppers together in olive oil until soft. In another pan, fry seeded, slivered fresh tomatoes in plenty of oil until browned and cooked. Combine the two. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper. Add cream and cook until a little reduced. Toss with pasta, serve on meat, or eat by itself.

[=Mark]

You fry fresh, ripe, in-season tomatoes till they're brown?  Don't think I've heard of that...

[Katherine]

They get very lightly brown, tan on the outside, really, and some of the excess moisture gets cooked off in the oil. Also really good in omelettes.

Actually, a customer in a restaurant I was cooking breakfast in ordered it that way once, and everybody liked it, so I cook them that way often (if I'm not eating them raw, of course).

[Holly Moore]

ZsuZsa Johnson taught me this variation on a fresh tomato sauce.

Skin seed and coarsely chop some vine rippened tomatoes.

Finely dice some fresh mozzarella cheese.

Combine and toss in some chopped fresh basil.  Add olive oil.

Now cook the pasta.  I use vermacelli, but others would work fine too.

Immediately upon draining the cooked pasta, add the sauce and toss.  You want the pasta to be piping hot so it melts the cheese.

Enjoy

[PAPPY]

I like the fresh tomtoe sauce mentioned. Definitley want to pour the hot pasta on the ingredients to get em"activated"

One of my faves is a Marchegianni sauce.

You start by frying up some garlic and onion, add some muchrooms and prociutto cook a couple of minutes then add some white wine to this mixture. cook down a bit and add a can of whole or cruched tomatoes. lets this mixture cook for 15 minutes .salt and pepper to taste.

when your pasta is ready add a good splash of heavy cream to the sauce. let it cook a minute and the voila' combine the drained pasta and mangia!

[franklanguage]

Quote: from Jason Perlow on 12:43 am on Sep. 5, 2001

The problem is, Its the butterfat that kills you, heavy alfredo sauces and such have a ton of butterfat. Lactose pills dont do jack for butterfat, not to mention kassein (sp?) intolerances which is rarer (its an ammino acid thats is in many dairy products including milk), but I happen to have it. its in my family.

Guess what: everyone is more or less intolerant to casein: it's a powerful glue (what they stick labels on beer bottles with). By some accounts, casein is what killed Florence Griffith Joyner: she ate a pizza one evening and died with a brick of casein in her stomach.

But yeah: some ethnic groups have it worse than others, and ironically, Eastern Europeans, whose food is full of cheese and sour cream, are pretty hard-hit with dairy intolerence.

Back to the topic: I discovered raw tomato sauce this past summer, and not having a recipe to work from, developed my own version. It's one that follows the basic formula of the raw tomato sauce posted here, but basically I make a base, chopping the garlic along with a few marinated sundried tomatoes (in my food processor), adding some fresh basil leaves (or other fresh herbs). I skin and seed a ripe tomato and add it to the mix, then pulse a few times. Lastly, I add a little olive oil and pulse just once. Goes great on a heap of cooked pasta.

[A Balic]

The favorite "sauce" of the moment is more of a dressing.  Cook pasta, while that is going on we gently heat good olive oil with garlic and dried chillies. In the last five minutes we add some stale bread crumbs and brown these slightly. Add to the pasta thats it. The bread crumbs are "poor mans parmesan", but we add parmesan as well in an effort to embrace our middle-classness.

[nyfirepatrolchef X]

I havent done a full blown red sauce, except at work, in ages.  What I usually do at home is a marinara o which I add a smidgen of red pepper flakes, and just at the end I add some very rough chopped calamata olives and rinsed capers.  When I feel like something a little lighter I do a lemon/chicken/rosemary thing I concocted.  I start by sauteeing some garlic, bout 1/3 cup of a no sulfites added white wine, reduce that.. chicken stock (yeah yeah the stuff that says College Inn lol)...kosher salt, black pepper, ground dried rosemary, and lemon juice.  Couple grilled chicken cutlets on the side...really nice meal.

[cabrales]

I prefer a well-executed traditional Bolognese sauce, paired with a pasta with lots of crevices for the sauce to find itself entrapped.

[John Whiting]

Arguments over Bolognese sauces can split up happy families, but... One of my moments of total enlightenment was in 1966 when I first tasted Elizabeth David's Bolognese sauce as given in her Mediterranean Food.

Another dimension was added by Alain Ducasse in his description of the ancient Liguria method of starting off uncooked pasta (it has to be the bronze die variety) in olive oil along with the elements of the sauce and slowly adding stock, as with risotto. A revelation!

[SobaAddict70]

any of the following:

uncooked tomato sauce (tomatoes passed through a food mill and strained; olive oil, salt and pepper; chiffonade of basil; sometimes mint)

basic tomato sauce (the same sauce above, but cooked; no basil or mint)

puttanesca (cooked version) (there's an uncooked version, but I find that the flavors are too raw and not harmonius enough)

Italian tuna packed in oil, good quality olives, capers, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, chopped flat leaf Italian parsley

lemon zest and ricotta over linguini or fusilli

shredded cabbage sauteed with some pancetta and lots of freshly cracked black pepper.  maybe toss an anchovy fillet in, and add some slowly cooked onions and red pepper flakes

basic tomato sauce with an anchovy fillet and a pinch of red pepper flakes

the same sauce above, with the addition of a handful of chopped pitted olives (no anchovy or red pepper flakes)

garlic, chopped herbs and good quality EVOO

butter, good olive oil (not EVOO), and one or two anchovy fillets

sweet Italian sausage which has been stripped out of its casing, roasted red and yellow peppers, fennel seeds, and a garlic clove or two

pan juices from a roasted leg or shoulder of lamb, mixed with garlic, slow cooked onions and rosemary

juices from steamed farmed mussels, strained (to get rid of the sand), then combined with butter, roasted garlic puree, minced flat-leaf Italian parsley, white wine, and a touch of light cream, then reduced.  sometimes will add tomato paste in the step before the addition of the cream.  I use this whenever I serve pasta with shellfish.

[SobaAddict70]

Arguments over Bolognese sauces can split up happy families

hehe I second that notion

seriously, I'm not that fanatical about taking cubed pork and beef and snipping them or shredding them with scissors (there are recipes that go too far, I think)

my sauce Bolognese almost always includes pork and beef, but not veal.  sometimes will include some mortadella if I'm not feeling too lazy.  a small addition of whole milk, definitely, for the added sweetness.

*sigh*

now I have to get out of here before a lawyer happens to see me....

Soba

[JennyUptown]

Time to revive this thread.

I'm contemplating making spaghetti carbonara or fettucine alfredo tonight. What are some of your favorite winter pasta sauces. Think rich...think zesty...think creamy...think caloric!

[BettyK]

Think rich...think zesty...think creamy...think caloric!

Nigella Lawson made this luscious Lemon Linguine last night. Check it out.

[misgabi]

I make the lemon linguine often - it is delicious.

Another favourite is butternut pumpkin (squash to you americans) cut into cubes and cooked until soft in salty boiling water. When soft fork mash half of this and pour some thickened cream into the half mash/half chunk mix. I them put all of this into the cooked pasta and throw in some parmesan cheese and a handful of cashew nuts right at the end. Top with more parmesan.

[silentbob]

Nigella's lemon linguine recipe is the bomb. Just made some yesterday -- the perfect meal when you only have 10-15 minutes.

Edited January 27, 2004 by silentbob (log)

[JennyUptown]

How about the balsamic brown butter sauce served with white bean ravioli at Po in NY?

Mmmm.....

[origamicrane]

not sure the egullet guideline for plugging brands

but have you ever tried the Lloyd Grossman tomato and chilli sauce?

that is definitely my favourite pre made pasta sauce.

Home made would be simply crushed garlic fried in olive oil and tossed with chopped rocket, parma ham, sauted mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes , cherry tomatoes and a grind of fresh black pepper. ;) great for a light summer lunch