Your Sauce Guide

Pasta with sauce is one if the simplest and possibly the most delicious dishes to make. What create a memorable bowl is the sauce itself. Whether it's the springy basil or a rich marinara , what goes on your spaghetti or lasagna  is the the ingredient that makes it.Yet don't get stuck in a rut. There are so many different kinds out there. You can have one type of pasta three different ways and each time it will be unique.

If you're a novice home chef, you may want to stick to the easiest.which is burro or butter. This is simply melted butter , either warmed in the microwave or in a saucepan over a low flame. Some add fresh parsley and/or onions but that's up to you. Just plain butter is good, especially if it's Kerrygold, Pasta con burro is a late night treat, especially at all night trattorias where young Italians go after the movies. Another no fuss sauce is aglia olio.This is a little more involved but worth it. It's thinly  slicing six (!) garlic cloves and sauteing them in half a cup of olive oil. (I  actually use a little more than half a cup). Peperincino  or red pepper flakes are added for heat and bite. Again using these are a matter of taste.If they're too fiery just sub in a grind of fresh black pepper. The pasta and the sauce must be cooked at the same time. If not the garlic will burn and will taste bitter.A cup or more of the pasta water also has to be added , mostly to thin out the sauce and add some salinity to it. This sauce should be served with spaghetti, but it also works with rigatoni and penne too.

Tomato sauces are any pastas best friend. You can make them over a stove pot or in a crockpot.I prefer the last because the slow cooking lets all the flavors meld together and gives it a richer, deeper flavor.The basic sauce calls for first sauteing sliced garlic  then adding tomato sauce and paste. Chopped onion give it that unique, fresh flavor while dark honey gives the entire sauce a certain mellowness.The last is up for debate. Many home and professional chefs will either add refined white sugar - no - or grated carrot - acceptable. I've added sugar to mine when I didn't have honey and it just gave the sauce a kind of candy like taste. Dark honey is is the best. It has more flavor - and more nutrients than light or golden honey. Bolognese sauce is the same but ground beef is cooked first with the garlic. Some Neopolitan chefs throw in ground pork. For a leaner sauce, try ground turkey. One of the hardest and most complex is pesto. Some think this is just  ground basil but it's so much more.. It ground basil leaves blended with walnuts and pignoli or pine nuts.. Only the best olive oil is used (Bertoli is recommended) and all the ingredients are put through a food processor or blender. Parmesan cheese is then added later. It's the only sauce that isn't cooked.It's not only good with pasta but also excellent with chicken and grilled steak.

There's a whole range of pasta sauces to try. Vary it with a traditional Bolognese or a simple aglia olio. It's a great way to expand your palate and sauce knowledge.