Favorite pasta sauces

[Daniel]

The simplest  and surest bet  (imho) is one that in Marcella Hazan's  The Classic Italian Cookbook is described as Tomato sauce number 3.  tomatoes, butter, onion and a pinch of sugar.  Just bright fresth tomato taste.  What a joy, as Jimmy Buffet sang "It was so simple I could jitterbug it plum evaded me."  How can something so simple be so good, yet it is.

Marcella's tomato sauce w/ butter & onion is so good I just eat it right out of the pot

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You inspired me to make her sauce today.. It truly is excellent. I now know how they make the tomato sauce at Gino.

[fierydrunk]

Che--

For 2 people how much sausage and porcini...what pasta would you reccomend? We don't make our own (yet).

[RETREVR]

My simple favorite is shitakes sauted in brown butter tossed with a short pasta and reggiano.

My not so simple favorite is mussels steamed with garlic, herbs, leaks, butter, wine, a touch of pernod, and a splash of a basic marinara.

Marinara is a bigining...rarely the end.

[Majra]

I'm hooked on Mario Batali's basic tomato sauce. It is seasoned with thyme. I used to buy it jarred at Trader Joe's until I moved away; now I make it with Pomi tomatoes (1 box chopped + 1 box strained). The recipe is easily found on the web. Fwiw, the jarred version and my homemade version both taste the same!

[tupac17616]

I'm hooked on Mario Batali's basic tomato sauce.  It is seasoned with thyme. 

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Mmmm, me too. That stuff is sooooooo good It tastes just fine on its own right out of the pot, of course it is exquisite on pasta, wonderful with bread, great in Mario's Osso Buco recipe, hell, its good on practically anything! I had no idea it was even sold in stores. I've always just made it at home. That is one basic recipe that is definitely a hit with my entire family. We all love it.

[lovebenton0]

Garlic, onion, diced garden eggplant satueed to golden in EVOO then our garden tomatoes, fresh picked basil, and red pepper flakes thrown in just enough to heat. On capellini top with grated Parm Reggiano.

Puttanesca -- lots of fresh crushed tomatoes, garlic, onions, fresh oregano, and red and black pepper, good splash of red wine. Parm Reg.

Baby bellas and thin sliced red peppers in EVOO and butter with garlic, s&p, Italian parsley, toss with capellini.

DH does anchovies/garlic/serranos in EVOO, then tosses all with Parm, breadcrumbs and florentine fettucine.

Fresh diced tomato, garlic, lemon juice, lemon thyme, red pepper flakes in mild OO and butter, red pepper, puree with cream, top with sauteed shrimp.

Tomatoes, mushroom, onion, garlic, red wine (or vermouth), basil and red pepper with EVOO, simmered to soft silky sauce. Diced provolone. Toss with hot penne pasta and grate Parm Reg.

Edited December 13, 2004 by lovebenton0 (log)

[Mooshmouse]

My vote is for pasta amatriciana. Mmmm... pancetta is my friend, as is bacon when pancetta is absent from my fridge. For that same reason, I also love carbonara... that is, when my arteries can handle it.

However, along the lines of simple is good, I absolutely adore linguine alla vongole. Either red or white sauce, I'm not fussy that way since it's really all about the clams.

Atkins be damned!

Edited December 13, 2004 by Mooshmouse (log)

[Megaroo]

I think my favorite has to be sauteed garlic in olive oil and butter, tossed with fresh tomatoes and chopped basil. (And topped with either parmesan or asaigo)

My second favorite is garlic, sauteed in olive oil and butter, add lemon juice until warm and then tossed with lots of fresh parsley. (And of course, parmesan or asaigo!)

I'm a big fan of made in 10 minute or less when I've worked until midnight, as you can see

[Carlovski]

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.<p>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).

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I do a similar thing - a variation on the 'simmered' tomato sauce is to use a fair bit more oil (Good idea is to warm up some chiles and garlic in the oil and remove - it's going to get too hot to not burn them) and crank the heat right up. Throw in some deskinned plum tomato pieces (Tinned is fine, but not chopped or crushed - they are chopped too fine) cook until nearly all the moisure has gone and you are left with concentrated tomatoey goodness, floatng in the oil. Drain some of the oil off and use. It's not really a liquid sauce, although the tomatoes will be quite mushy by now. I mainly use this one to dress filled fresh pastas - tortellini, ravioli etc.

[howard88]

Small shells with olive oil and lots of garlic, parsley and reggiano.

Linguine with white clam sauce, tied depending on mood with carbonara.

[Anatolia]

Please correct me if i am wrong aren't certain sauces made with only certain pasta types in mind? I am not italian and not really sure how this all works and if it is true is there a reference guide? or can you pair any sauce and pasta?

[rcarter]

The simplest  and surest bet  (imho) is one that in Marcella Hazan's  The Classic Italian Cookbook is described as Tomato sauce number 3.  tomatoes, butter, onion and a pinch of sugar.  Just bright fresth tomato taste.  What a joy, as Jimmy Buffet sang "It was so simple I could jitterbug it plum evaded me."  How can something so simple be so good, yet it is.

Marcella's tomato sauce w/ butter & onion is so good I just eat it right out of the pot

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I highly recommend Marcella's tomato sauce as well. I love simple pasta recipes: Nigella's pancetta, garlic oil and linguine and a BBC recipe for pasta with tuna, mushrooms and creme fraiche are also favorites.

[Kevin72]

Please correct me if i am wrong aren't certain sauces made with only certain pasta types in mind?  I am not italian and not really sure how this all works and if it is true is there a reference guide?  or can you pair any sauce and pasta?

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I wouldn't get so bogged down in hard and fast, this sauce MUST go ONLY with THAT pasta, just some generalities:

Fresh pasta goes best with cream or butter-based sauces

Dried pasta goes with olive oil-based sauces

Short stubby pasta, or tubes, go best with thick, robust sauces like meat ragus.

String pastas go well with seafood or vegetables.

There are certain dishes that are classic pasta/sauce combinations, and usually you will see them listed as such: Fettucine Alfredo, Tagliatelle Bolognese, Bucatini all'Amatriciani, etc. But don't get too worried about specifics otherwise.

Edited December 13, 2004 by Kevin72 (log)

[Kevin72]

As for favorite pasta sauces:

Ragu Bolognese

Clams, white wine, olive oil, garlic, chilies, parsley

A favorite sauce "technique" I have is one learned from Batali/Willinger where you cook a seasonal vegetable in olive oil, garlic, and chilies, and then finish it with mint and pecorino.

[RETREVR]

Please correct me if i am wrong aren't certain sauces made with only certain pasta types in mind?  I am not italian and not really sure how this all works and if it is true is there a reference guide?  or can you pair any sauce and pasta?

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I wouldn't get so bogged down in hard and fast, this sauce MUST go ONLY with THAT pasta, just some generalities:

Fresh pasta goes best with cream or butter-based sauces

Dried pasta goes with olive oil-based sauces

Short stubby pasta, or tubes, go best with thick, robust sauces like meat ragus.

String pastas go well with seafood or vegetables.

There are certain dishes that are classic pasta/sauce combinations, and usually you will see them listed as such: Fettucine Alfredo, Tagliatelle Bolognese, Bucatini all'Amatriciani, etc. But don't get too worried about specifics otherwise.

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Rules? What rules?

I might add that it is good to consider the size and shape of your ingredients in relation to you pasta shape. For example: A quater pound meat ball might not be the best match for angel hair. Chopped clams might mingle well on the other hand.

If I were making a pasta salad I might julienne red peppers to go with penne but small dice them (or half julienne) to go with elbos.

Some of the conventions seem strange. For example: I would never make a tuttu de mare and serve it on spaghetti. Great on linguini, not so good on spag. Not because the pasta is much different. It just doesn't look right. Same thing with meatballs on linguini.

Don't get me started on the time I caught my mom cooking cappellini and spaghetti in the same pot for the same duration.

[EdS]

I prefer simple olive oil and garlic.

If I was asked 25 years ago, I would have said chili, at Bob's Big Boy.

[stephenc]

Bolognese

or

Any red gravy with anchovies.

[Jason Perlow]

Some fresh pastas we made this week:

#2 Borgatti Tagliatelle (From the Bronx) Fresh Spinach Noodles with Porcini and White Mushrooms and Chicken in a Veal Glace, and Sour Cream Sauce with Parmigiano Reggiano, Parsley and Peas

Borgatti Fresh Noodles #1 (wider than #2) prepared two ways:

Alla Ragu'

Scampi in a Lemon, Parsley, Sherry garlic butter sauce.

[Jason Perlow]

A riff on Sphagetti Carbonara tonight:

Pan Seared Scallops cooked in butter and rendered Bacon Fat, over Fresh Pasta Carbonara with Lardons and Cauliflower

[RETREVR]

Did the prep cook not de-vein the shrimp?

I would like to change my answer to: Lardons with a side of spag.

Edited December 23, 2004 by RETREVR (log)

[Jason Perlow]

I was too lazy to de-vein them and this particular sample of shrimp was pretty clean when we had some as shrimp cocktail.