Right now we buy Classico. But I am curious - is there a way to make
homemade pasta sauce that is better than premade jarred namebrand?

I would like to if it's not all that time consuming.

"meatnub" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Right now we buy Classico. But I am curious - is there a way to make
homemade pasta sauce that is better than premade jarred namebrand?

I would like to if it's not all that time consuming.

There are hundreds of them and there are also hundreds of people who
skillfully make them and publish the recipes on food blogs. Everyday
millions of Italian homemakers go into the kitchen and make a pasta and a
sauce in 20 minutes or less. There is no one sauce and many have no tomato
in them at all.

If you want to start with a tomato sauce, make a simple one with a vegetable
sofritto, tomatoes and seasonings. Don't over do it. You will learn how to
elaborate by beginning with making the best from the simplest. Remember the
adage, "when cooking with tomatoes, it is less than 10 minutes or more than
2 hours: the acid lives between." Start with the 10 minute sauces using
already cooked canned tomatoes. Expect a bright, fresh tasting sauce. Once
you have mastered that, start looking for sauces like arabbiata, puttanesca,
amatriciana and those will be easy, too. Don't get stuck in a rut thinking
there's only one way to do these things and that it must be hard and time
consuming.


--
http://www.judithgreenwood.com

meatnub wrote:
Right now we buy Classico. But I am curious - is there a way to make
homemade pasta sauce that is better than premade jarred namebrand?

I would like to if it's not all that time consuming.

If you want to do it right you have to put some time into it

Giusi wrote:
"meatnub" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Right now we buy Classico. But I am curious - is there a way to make
homemade pasta sauce that is better than premade jarred namebrand?

I would like to if it's not all that time consuming.

There are hundreds of them and there are also hundreds of people who
skillfully make them and publish the recipes on food blogs.

Not discounting your suggestions, Guisi, but sauces for pasta are not
exclusively Italian. Pre "blogs" there were cookbooks. Pasta sauces
abound. To the OP, look for some cookbooks in the library. Read up on
different types of sauces and go from there. I happen to prefer a Hungarian
sour cream sauce (like stroganoff) for pasta to an Italian ragu and there
are many variations on it... mmmm!

Jill

"jmcquown" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Giusi wrote:
"meatnub" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Right now we buy Classico. But I am curious - is there a way to make
homemade pasta sauce that is better than premade jarred namebrand?

I would like to if it's not all that time consuming.

There are hundreds of them and there are also hundreds of people who
skillfully make them and publish the recipes on food blogs.

Not discounting your suggestions, Guisi, but sauces for pasta are not
exclusively Italian. Pre "blogs" there were cookbooks. Pasta sauces
abound. To the OP, look for some cookbooks in the library. Read up on
different types of sauces and go from there. I happen to prefer a
Hungarian
sour cream sauce (like stroganoff) for pasta to an Italian ragu and
there
are many variations on it... mmmm!

Jill

I like other versions with various pastas, too. There's an Indonesian pasta
I make at least twice a month. But when someone says he's been using a
jarred Classico sauce I reckon he wants Italian. I didn't mention the
cookbooks because he is concerned about time. The internet gives you the
fastest result. The other thing is that when I read most American cookbook
versions of many of the common sauces, I find recipes so laden with
extraneous stuff I can't figure out why or I find sauces which have so much
added fat that I would be reluctant to eat them.

"meatnub" wrote in message
...
Right now we buy Classico. But I am curious - is there a way to make
homemade pasta sauce that is better than premade jarred namebrand?

I would like to if it's not all that time consuming.

You will probably get more answers to that question than you expect, with a
lot of comments on whose is better or worse.

Giusi wrote:

If you want to start with a tomato sauce, make a simple one with a vegetable
sofritto, tomatoes and seasonings. Don't over do it. You will learn how to
elaborate by beginning with making the best from the simplest. Remember the
adage, "when cooking with tomatoes, it is less than 10 minutes or more than
2 hours: the acid lives between." Start with the 10 minute sauces using
already cooked canned tomatoes. Expect a bright, fresh tasting sauce. Once
you have mastered that, start looking for sauces like arabbiata, puttanesca,
amatriciana and those will be easy, too. Don't get stuck in a rut thinking
there's only one way to do these things and that it must be hard and time
consuming.


and ohmygawd did I make a killer sauce today too! It started out because
when I made chorizo this weekend, I needed pork fat. So getting big fat
pork chops and other bits just to get the fat off them, I then had these
chops and bones left that couldn't go to waste, right? No, right!
The sauce was a rich ragu, which was a tad too rich for a warm sunny day
I thought, so I lightened it up with the addition of some creme fraiche.
Wow. I can't describe how amazing that sauce became.....that one will be
with me in my memory for a long time yet. deep satisfied sigh

"Giusi" wrote in message
...
snip
I like other versions with various pastas, too. There's an Indonesian
pasta
I make at least twice a month. But when someone says he's been using a
jarred Classico sauce I reckon he wants Italian. I didn't mention the
cookbooks because he is concerned about time. The internet gives you the
fastest result. The other thing is that when I read most American
cookbook versions of many of the common sauces, I find recipes so laden
with extraneous stuff I can't figure out why or I find sauces which have
so much added fat that I would be reluctant to eat them.

I would LOVE that Indonesian pasta recipe/method!

TammyM, salivating

kilikini wrote:
Goomba38 wrote:
The sauce was a rich ragu, which was a tad too
rich for a warm sunny
day I thought, so I lightened it up with the addition of some creme
fraiche. Wow. I can't describe how amazing that sauce became.....that
one will be with me in my memory for a long time yet. deep satisfied
sigh

Oh, that sounds heavenly, Goomba! Nicely done!

kili

Thanks. I started the week looking for ways to use up some creme fraiche
and I have since gone out and bought more and am having a creme fraiche
orgy this week. Oy. What wicked, evil, incredibly good stuff that
is...sigh.....

TammyM wrote:
"Giusi" wrote in message
...
snip
I like other versions with various pastas, too. There's an Indonesian
pasta
I make at least twice a month. But when someone says he's been using a
jarred Classico sauce I reckon he wants Italian. I didn't mention the
cookbooks because he is concerned about time. The internet gives you the
fastest result. The other thing is that when I read most American
cookbook versions of many of the common sauces, I find recipes so laden
with extraneous stuff I can't figure out why or I find sauces which have
so much added fat that I would be reluctant to eat them.

I would LOVE that Indonesian pasta recipe/method!

TammyM, salivating

Yes - that does sound interesting!

Dave

kilikini wrote:

meatnub wrote:
Right now we buy Classico. But I am curious - is there a way to make
homemade pasta sauce that is better than premade jarred namebrand?

I would like to if it's not all that time consuming.

It is time consuming, but it tastes great and it doesn't have high fructose
corn syrup in it like the store-bought brands do.

Just for reference, not all the store bought brands have HFCS or
anything else "funky". Indeed the Classico that was referenced does not
contain anything at all "funky".

Classico Tomato Basil ingredients: Tomato puree (water, tomato paste),
Diced tomatoes (tomatoes, tomato juice, citric acid, calcium chloride),
onion, olive oil, salt, basil, garlic, garlic powder, spices, soybean
oil.

Giusi wrote:

"jmcquown" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Giusi wrote:
"meatnub" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Right now we buy Classico. But I am curious - is there a way to make
homemade pasta sauce that is better than premade jarred namebrand?

I would like to if it's not all that time consuming.

There are hundreds of them and there are also hundreds of people who
skillfully make them and publish the recipes on food blogs.

Not discounting your suggestions, Guisi, but sauces for pasta are not
exclusively Italian. Pre "blogs" there were cookbooks. Pasta sauces
abound. To the OP, look for some cookbooks in the library. Read up on
different types of sauces and go from there. I happen to prefer a
Hungarian
sour cream sauce (like stroganoff) for pasta to an Italian ragu and
there
are many variations on it... mmmm!

Jill

I like other versions with various pastas, too. There's an Indonesian pasta
I make at least twice a month. But when someone says he's been using a
jarred Classico sauce I reckon he wants Italian. I didn't mention the
cookbooks because he is concerned about time. The internet gives you the
fastest result. The other thing is that when I read most American cookbook
versions of many of the common sauces, I find recipes so laden with
extraneous stuff I can't figure out why or I find sauces which have so much
added fat that I would be reluctant to eat them.

The OP's Classico is one of the better commercial sauces, with no funky
ingredients. It's a pretty good starting point for enhancements if you
don't want to go "from scratch".

On Wed, 14 May 2008 16:12:53 -0500, "jmcquown"
wrote:

Giusi wrote:
"meatnub" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Right now we buy Classico. But I am curious - is there a way to make
homemade pasta sauce that is better than premade jarred namebrand?

I would like to if it's not all that time consuming.

There are hundreds of them and there are also hundreds of people who
skillfully make them and publish the recipes on food blogs.

Not discounting your suggestions, Guisi, but sauces for pasta are not
exclusively Italian. Pre "blogs" there were cookbooks. Pasta sauces
abound. To the OP, look for some cookbooks in the library. Read up on
different types of sauces and go from there. I happen to prefer a Hungarian
sour cream sauce (like stroganoff) for pasta to an Italian ragu and there
are many variations on it... mmmm!

Jill
Jill,
You got a recipe you can share of the Hungarian sour cream sauce?
That sounds great!

Anthony

"Goomba38" ha scritto

and ohmygawd did I make a killer sauce today too! It started out because
when I made chorizo this weekend, I needed pork fat. So getting big fat
pork chops and other bits just to get the fat off them, I then had these
chops and bones left that couldn't go to waste, right? No, right!
The sauce was a rich ragu, which was a tad too rich for a warm sunny day I
thought, so I lightened it up with the addition of some creme fraiche.
Wow. I can't describe how amazing that sauce became.....that one will be
with me in my memory for a long time yet. deep satisfied sigh

LOL I admit to wishing often for creme fraiche or sour cream, but then one
couldn't eat it EVERY day. It would be nice to eat yours on the one day,
however.

"TammyM" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
"Giusi" wrote in message
...
snip
I like other versions with various pastas, too. There's an Indonesian
pasta
I make at least twice a month. But when someone says he's been using a
jarred Classico sauce I reckon he wants Italian. I didn't mention the
cookbooks because he is concerned about time. The internet gives you the
fastest result. The other thing is that when I read most American
cookbook versions of many of the common sauces, I find recipes so laden
with extraneous stuff I can't figure out why or I find sauces which have
so much added fat that I would be reluctant to eat them.

I would LOVE that Indonesian pasta recipe/method!

I've looked all over for the recipe as received or where I first saw it,
with no luck. This, however, is a general view of how I make it, with many
substitutions.

For 2

4 ounces of Asian noodles: bean thread, rice, wheat, always thin ones. Soak
in hot water. Cook in boiling salted water about 5 minutes.

seed oil, usually peanut
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 very hot tiny peppers, crushed
4 ounces thinly sliced steak (or chicken, or whole shrimp, whatever)
Some slivered vegetable if you are in the mood, but they weren't in the
recipe

Sauce:
heaped Tbsp of fermented black bean sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

Mix this up and reserve.

Heat the seed oil in a wok and when it isa very hot, toss in the garlic, the
hot pepper and sauté briefly, then add the meat, stirfrying until it loses
its red coloring. Ass the sauce mixture and stir in. Lift the noodles out
of their water with a slotted spoon and toss them into the wok. Stir quite
well and serve hot.

Thji8s was a recipe offered by an Indonesian fellow on Group Recipes, but he
called them Chinese noodles.