I've made my own and it's really simple...but time-consuming. Here's a good recipe:

With meat: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/meat-sauce-and-spaghetti-recipe/index.html

Without: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pantry-friendly-tomato-sauce-recipe/index.html

But most of the time I find that Trader Joe's pasta sauces are good enough - and cheap, at $2-3 a jar - that I can use them without feeling like I'm eating Ragu.

 

I only make my own in the fall when all the plum tomatoes arrive and my basil plants are lush .. same with chili, start from scratch there too. The rest of the year, I use Barilla.. which is my opinion the best I have ever tried. Tomato and basil, roasted garlic, green pepper and mushroom all come home with me. I put one each in the pot and have at it. I eat it on angel hair, sometimes with ground beef, others with Italian sausage or like two nights ago with boneless skinless chicken breasts sauteed with three or four HEAPING table spoons of minced or chopped garlic. I am a very good cook and I am hard pressed to make better red sauce than they offer in a jar.





Being a southern boy, I have been drinking my iced tea out of a mason jar since forever. The square Barilli jars have a clean rim and work just fine.. no drippage after the sip, I have a whole shelf devoted to them. I am drinking tea from one now. Outside when insects are an issue, I keep a lid on between sips, and I can toss it into the ice chest for coolness. They double as a measuring jar too as they are marked for that.

The Marinara is pretty good too, nice bite to it...I have that with chicken breasts and regular "fat" spaghetti.

One of these days I'll write up my recipe for linguine and white clam sauce.. it has never failed to get me "desert" when I invite a lady over. Everyone who has had it says it's the best they have ever eaten and they don't get it at restaurants any more.

 

Depends on my mood. On nights I need a quick dinner, I use jar. Otherwise, I usually make my own.

 

Alfredo originated in Napoli, at - you guessed it - Alfredo's!

It's European triple butter, (substitute 1 part butter to 2 parts heavy cream if you can't find it here) freshly grated Parmiggiano, salt and a tiny bit of freshly ground white pepper. That's it!

 

To me, Marinara has always been a loose sauce, not cooked down and thick, with cooked, but not everly soft onions and pepper.. a "quick" red sauce.

My white sauce is not an alfredo.. no cheese in it, romano "on" it (Lucatelli.. has to smell like "dead feet' as ol' Joe Shakra used to say) the white comes at the end from heavy cream

 

God love you for your patience, Marty; I never was able to grow basil in Florida.

I have a good, healthy garden of it here, though; along with Tuscan Blue rosemary, Greek oregano, thyme, marjoram, curly parsley, Kentucky Colonel mint (best EVER!), dill, fennel, lemon verbena, habanero peppers, Jamaican Scotch Bonnet peppers (both red and yellow), cilantro, black figs, bay leaf and 3 kinds of heirloom tomato.

Also have a large variety of lavenders, and I'm trying my hand at growing melons this year - although I don't know how that will turn out.

 

Just made spaghetti sauce today.

Just not a fan of anything from a jar, though...

 

Jar sauce could get you killed in the house I grew up in. True story.

 

Really easy to make your own. But what sauce are you talking about though. There are quick red sauces you can make in 10 minutes. There is marinara, there are the different ragus.

Then you have all the white sauces. You guys should try aglio-olio which is basically pasta in an olive oil and garlic, that's it.

 

I always make my own. The thing is that the tomatoes have to be right. If they're kind of pink, forget it. The redder they are, the better they are.

BTW, I make aglio-olio so often it may do it sleepwalking. It's so easy and it takes just a couple of minutes.

Just put olive oil, garlic, chopped parsley (flat leaf if possible), and black pepper. Let it cook just until the parsley wilts, about a minute or two. That's it you're done and it's delicious.

 

I make my own usually, but if I'm in a pinch I'll doctor up a couple of cans of Hunts Tomato Sauce, If I'm doing a meat sauce I saute the meat with chopped garlic and Marsala wine, draining the wine when the meat is cooked through. Makes a real tasty meat sauce.

 

a variation on that Miamian, is when the garlic just begins to brown (golden) pour water about a cup into the skillet (careful for splashes). This allows the garlic to cook further, sweetening and mellowing, without overbrowning the garlic. I like them both ways, really brown garlic, and also this method which produces a sweet, soft, mellow garlic. You allow the water to boil off about half before proceeding like normal. Takes a tiny bit longer but give it a shot, let me know if you like it.

 

I have "On Top of Spaghetti" a really good cookbook from owners of Al Forno in Providence, RI. They have some really easy quick pasta recipes I have to try. If anyone wants me to post some of the recipes I can (ingredient lists are not protected by copyright). They have midnight sauces for one, etc.

 

Having homemade lasagna tonight. I used the no boil noodles from Barrilla this time (we're rethermalizing leftovers tonight) and let me tell you that you can't tell the difference. It was nice to eliminate that one step (and dirty pot and colander) in the long process of lasagna construction.

 

ugh, not spaghetti sauce. Tomato sauce.

 

Ketchup and some italian seasoning. KIDDING! I prefer home made but more often doctor up pre made sauce from a jar due to time and lazyness. I buy sauces that don't have tons of salt and have less stuff I can't pronounce in the ingredients like monophosfochloraphormicaladaliosious.

 

Basically how I make it only I add fresh garlic, hell I add fresh garlic to everything...LOL!

When I want to spruce it up a bit, I'll lightly saute some small broccoli's and some cubed (good quality) ham...my god.

 

Welll, when I want a white sauce, I simply use Parmesan and Butter and a generous amount of black pepper.

Red Sauce..depends, sometimes fresh tomatoes and basil in the food processor on warm pasta, when a heavier meat sauce is called for, the large crock pot brown (but not fully cooked) sausage and pork neck bones whole garlic slightly crushed, parmesan, Oregano, basil, a couple of shots of Tabasco or Red Pepper flakes and simmer on low for 8 hours or so.

 

Here's a good article I just ran across:

http://food.yahoo.com/blog/edlevineeats/35215/the-do-s-and-don-ts-of-perfect-spaghetti/

 

I'm the 7th comment :D


Fresh pasta is something you should all try too, it's really easy. All you need is flour and eggs.

 

Semolina flour. :up:

 

And a pasta maker.

 

I make a pretty decent marinara sauce and meat sauce but a better marsala and white clam sauce.