What do you put in your tomato sauce for pasta? I've been on a bit of a kick lately trying to perfect it, here's what I've got (serves 1):
>1 tin chopped tomatoes (crushed up a bit smaller with fork) >Half an onion, diced >3-4 mini sweet peppers, diced >Handful of mushrooms, diced >3 medium sized garlic cloves, diced >200g bacon lardons >2 teaspoons italian herb mix >4 teaspoons brown sugar >1 teaspoon chilli flakes >1 teaspoon fine ground black pepper >Glass of red wine (a good one you're going to drink with the meal - definitely not "cooking wine", especially if you're American) >1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
Reduced down for at least an hour on a low heat, stirring occasionally. Cook your favourite pasta with a tablespoon of salt and teaspoon of olive oil, drain and stir through the sauce. Finally, stir in some parmesan to taste, then a small handful of basil leaves torn up and stirred in.
Am I missing anything important? And /iti/ - Pasta Sauce General, I guess.
>The number of ingredients = the size of the serving ???
Once cooked it won't even fill a standard pasta sauce jar.
Samuel Thomas
No fucking need to be a fucking cunt you fucking faggot
John Robinson
Don't cook your pasta with oil, it just makes it harder for the sauce to stick and you end up throwing most of it down the drain. Just stir your pasta after you put it in the boiling water and give it another quick stir every 30 seconds, this way the starch coming out of the pasta doesn't cook together and get stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Zachary Jones
I'm monitoring this thread, I went to cook pasta just now and the only sauce I have is plain bland ass tomato sauce.
Adrian Nelson
Also other than that it sounds pretty good, but are you sauteing the aromatics and bacon first? If not you're missing out on a bit of flavor. Also I'd omit the brown sugar and add grated carrot for sweetness and flavor, or just reduce some balsamic vinegar and add that. Personally I don't like peppers in sauce unless it's for something like cacciatore but if you like it then keep adding it.
Logan Cruz
>sugar No. Just no. And use fresh herbs. Mushroom and bacon dont belong in a simple tomato sauce.
Matthew Davis
That definitely makes sense, I gave the oil a try on my second attempt because I timed things badly and the pasta stuck to the pan the first time, but now you mention it it was a lot harder to clean the pan the second time.
I was actually considering carrots instead of sugar earlier but I wasn't sure if it would alter the texture too much even diced, I'll definitely give it a try with grated next time, that sounds perfect. I founded it needed the sugar because of how many spicy things I was doing, but carrots should definitely mean I can reduce it.
And yeah, I do the onions, peppers, mushrooms, bacon, herbs, sugar and chilli first to get it all cooked through and mixed up nicely, then when it's done I add the garlic for about 30 seconds before adding in all the juicy stuff when I'm ready to leave it simmering.
I suppose it is a bit more than a sauce, yeah, I just need a bit of meat with it, and it's not as distracting as you'd think if you give it a good hour of cooking, everything really breaks down lovely and you just have a nice thick sauce at the end. Fresh herbs may be getting a bit artisinal for me, but I'll definitely try it some day just to see what difference it makes.
William Adams
You can grow some fresh herbs in your house. Basil and thyme really need to be fresh, but for a sauce dried oregano is fine. Parsley and Koriander are nice herbs to have fresh as well.
