pasta sauce recipes

Stephen_Leak

Here's my 2 denarii's worth ...

ITALIAN TOMATO SAUCE

Enough for pasta for 2

INGREDIENTS

2 cloves of garlic
2 onions
2 tablespoons of olive oil
400g tin of plum tomatoes*
2 teaspoons of basil or mixed herbs
Ground pepper to taste

METHOD

Peel the garlic and chop it into tiny pieces. Peel the onions and chop them into tiny pieces.

Put the oil into a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the garlic and onion. Fry the garlic and onion for about 2 minutes. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

Open the tin of tomatoes. Put the juice into the pan. Chop the tomatoes while they are still in the can (it’s easier than chasing them around the pan).

Put the chopped tomatoes into the pan. Add the herbs. Continue to cook, stirring as the mixture boils. Season with the pepper. Continue to cook, stirring as the mixture boils, until the sauce has reduced.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Add a glass of wine and cook for a bit longer. Drink the glass of wine and cook for the same time.

Add ¼ of a teaspoon of chilli powder to make it into an Arrabbiata sauce, which is usually served with penne pasta.

This can also be blended and used as a pizza topping.

TIPS

Always "take the pasta to the sauce". Put the cooked pasta in the pan with the sauce and stir together until thoroughly coated.

* Plum tomatoes can be used either whole or chopped. It is difficult to stick chopped tomatoes back together again if you need to use them whole.

thelawnet

sahj wrote: »

After finding the cost of pasta sauce every increasing I decided to make my own to see if I could do it cheaper/nicer. We used to have Dolmio back in the days when it was £1 a bottle, then moved on to Ragu as it seemed to be on offer a lot at 2 for £1 then £2 for £2. Then we went on to Tescos own brand but again this has increased greatly.

So my recipe was this:
passata
chillies
peppers
italian herbs
onion
fresh garlic
basil
grated carrot (extra veggies as we dont have many!)
pack of whitworths dried veggies

And the result...... edible but not desirable! Also it cost me the same if not a touch more than a jar would have cost.

Perhaps you are used to their taste, personally I think they are horrid.

You can make sauce with simply:

olive oil
canned tomatoes (chopped works better)
one chopped onion
chopped garlic cloves
dried herbs (oregano and basil)

I make the cost of this:

tomatoes (33p - seems v. expensive compared with how much they used to be)
1/4 of a garlic 5p
250g (?) onion 9p
herbs - about 3p
tbsp olive oil - 5p

Total is 55p

for ~660g of sauce

Tesco's own brand sauce is £1.39 currently on offer at £1, and contains:

Tomato (56%), Water, Tomato Pur!e (9%), Sugar, Onion, Modified Maize Starch, Celery, Salt, Garlic Pur!e (0.6%), Kibbled Onion, Sunflower Oil, Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid), Basil, Parsley, Oregano, Black Pepper, Fennel, White Pepper, Thyme, Celery Powder, Flavouring.
Go back to the product contents


which is basically the same as the above, but with a few more herbs. Seems cheaper to me.

geordie_joe

thelawnet wrote: »

Celery, Salt, Garlic Pur!e (0.6%), Kibbled Onion,

What's a Kibbled Onion?

rachbc

a good tomato sauce recipe will serve you well...my method learnt from my uni mate who lived in italy for several years

saute 1 onion and whole peeled clove garlic gently in olive oil til soft but not brown. add half a veg stock cube and stir till dissolved, add a tin of toms, half stick of celery and 1 carrot coarsely chopped into 2/3 chuncks. simmer as gently as poss for as long as poss (at least an hour) with the lid half covering the pan. add a little water if it lookd like it is drying out too much. It needs to be thick and reduced. she fished out the the veg before serving, I whizz them into the sauce with stick blender.

Patchwork_Quilt

I do something similar to all the above - onions and garlic fried in a generous slug of olive oil, two tins of tomatoes and herbs, sliced peppers and then start with lemon juice, a teaspoon of sugar, salt and pepper and a glug of red wine if necessary. Each one comes out differently.

meanmarie

The only bought sauces that I find acceptable (just) are the Lloyd Grossman ones, and they are very nearly €3 per jar so I don't often buy them, only when they are on offer for the storecupboard.

I use the cheapest tomatoes I can get, usually whole, drain the juice and chop tomatoes in the tin with a scissors and I have yet to find an easier sauce than onion, garlic, sweated, tomatoes, rosemary, butter ( or not if you prefer) sugar, salt and lots of black pepper...probably about 20c per serving, which I find acceptable for a very good sauce.
Marie

thelawnet

geordie_joe wrote: »

What's a Kibbled Onion?

LandyAndy

So it's an onion masquerading as a shredded cabbage?

JoeyG

I put a jar of pasatta into a pan while the pasta is boiling (wholewheat, so about 20 mins), then I add a pinch of salt, plenty of black pepper, dried basil & oregano, and 1/4 tsp chilli powder... the makes a great base sauce with a bit of a kick!... I then add some chopped pepper, mushroom, sweetcorn and chicken to the mix, then when the pasta is ready I drain it off, put it back into the pan and add the sauce, mix it up on max heat for about 10 seconds, then serve.

I share a flat with friends, and this dish is VERY popular... I cook it in bulk every week, usually to stretch for 3 meals.

I reckon in all it costs about £5, but I could probably make it cheaper if i used tomatoes instead passata, and the chicken is always free range... not bad though considering a similar dish in the cafe up the road costs £6 for one portion

MoneyQueen

Hi ,

I use the following recipe.. You can freeze this and I add roasted veg later...

http://uktv.co.uk/food/peoplescookbook/recipe/aid/581678

Recipe asks for lots of olive oil.. but I use half of the stated amount...