Dressing up your pasta sauce

In all honesty, I would probably eat red sauce and pasta every day if I could. It's just one of those things. Maybe growing up with a momma who frequently made fancy Italian foods has something to do with that. I'm not sure. But I am sure that I'm a fan of jarred sauces. Because, let's be honest... who actually has time to make spaghetti sauce? Usually not me. But- you can buy the jarred stuff at the store for pretty cheap, as long as you're not getting some fancy $7 jar of organic, local, hip sauce. (For the record, I still don't think those are worth $7). And all you have to do is dress it up a bit and you have a tasty pot of sauce.

So here are some ideas for dressing up that plain, walmart brand, prego, ragu, whatever you've got.

1. I'm not sure about this, but it seem like the longer you warm up any tomato-y thing, the better it is. So don't microwave it. Put it on the stove, let it heat up for a while.

2. Add stuff! Here are some ideas:
- Fresh basil (on top)
- Half and half or sour cream (creamy sauce)
- Fresh carrots that have been sauteed with garlic, onions, crushed red pepper... or ANYTHING you like.
- Crushed red pepper. You've just gotta add the spice.
- And of course, any kind of meat - ground beef, chicken, shrimp, whatever.
- Zucchini! (already soft and fried in oil)
- Crushed tomatoes (make sure you let them simmer for a while. Or even warm them up on a frying pan before adding them to the sauce.

Basically anything you add will add to the flavor and cover up that weird tomato-y ness that some cheap sauces have. I still don't buy canned sauce though. Definitely stick with the jars.

Oh and of course you need some fun pasta. Some of my favorites are bowties (farfalle), radiatore, and fettuccine. I also love cheese-stuffed tortellini and ravioli. The texture makes a different.

But there are more! Check it out!


This is not nearly all of the different types of pasta out there, but it gives you an idea.

Today mine was sliced carrots fried in butter with crushed red peppers. Then I put it in classico tomato basil sauce, added some pine nuts, parmesan, and ate it on linguini. Yum! I would post a picture, except it's already in my tummy...

Be creative and have fun!


PS, maybe some day I will post a real home-made sauce recipe. It is better. But for now, this will do.