What's your favorite pasta sauce or dish?

And no,I don't mean mac and cheese.

I like spaghetti and meatballs.

Nothing wrong with a big feed of spaghetti and meatballs.

Here's my favorite version of that recipe:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/jgraz/36

I used to share a house with a doctor from Italy who made it, and it was just fucking fantastic.

Probably not very healthy though. It involved great quantities of heavy cream, cheese, eggs, prosciutto and butter.

But damn, was it yummy.

And now I'm hungry. :rofl:

be here

whoopie doo.

as a birthday present once. That was the present; the manicotti. It was yummy, too! :9

or sometimes a pasta alfredo if I'm feeling really decadent.

Or just pasta with olive oil and garlic and a smidge of parmesan. Yum! Sometimes simple is best.

Start with a 28 ounce can of good tomatoes...I like Progresso when I'm on a L-O-W budget, and imported San Marzano tomatoes when I'm not (Cento makes an excellent brand of these...somewhere between 4 and 5 bucks for a 28 ounce can...look for the yellow label with the red letters). Muir Glen organic tomatoes are nice for other things but I've never been happy with them as the foundation for an Italian sauce.

Run the tomatoes through a food mill to remove any seeds or skin. The seeds are the source of bitterness in sauce and the reason why people add ridiculous things like sugar. You will even see some brands of sauce in the jar that contain high fructose corn syrup...YECCH!

Take away the seeds and you get the naturally sweet taste of the tomatoes themselves. Keep the juice. If the tomatoes come packed with one or two basil leaves, toss them...you'll add dried basil at the end.

Put two tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 1 small finely chopped onion. Stir frequently until it's translucent. Add 2 minced cloves of garlic and stir for about one minute. You don't want it to burn...burnt garlic will ruin your sauce. Add the tomatoes and one bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer (so that you barely see a few bubbles here and there on the surface. Cover, leaving the lid slightly ajar. Stir occasionally, maintaining the simmer, for one to one and a half hours, until the sauce has thickened.

Five minutes before serving, add 1/4 teaspoon dried mint, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon dried basic. I don't use measuring spoons, I "eyeball" it. Adding the herbs at the end keeps the taste vibrant, not bitter. Remove the bay leaf and toss it.

Add the sauce to cooked, drained pasta. My favorite brand of pasta is De Cecco...good, authentic, imported Italian pasta that cooks to a perfect "al dente" state. Put the pot on the stove over low heat and stir constantly for one minute...this allows the sauce to really permeate the pasta.

Serve with freshly grated cheese...NOT the stuff in the green cardboard box.

I'm Italian...I never use sauce from a jar.

:toast:

Italian enchiladas, more or less.. My grandmother makes the best, of course..

All measurements approximate.

Boil in water to which ground pepper and pressed garlic have been added about 1/3 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast until it is quite tender. Approx 20-30 minutes for me.

To a skillet add 1-2 TBS olive oil and 1/4 cup chopped onions. Gently cook until the onions are clear. Stir frequently.

Pour into the skillet with the onions a 14.5 oz can of petite diced tomatoes.

Simmer for 35-40 minutes.

4-5 TBS water may need to be added to keep mix hydrated.

Add

1/2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1/4 tsp salt or to taste
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper or to taste

Finely shred the boiled chicken breasts and stir in with other ingredients.

Cook 5-6 oz angel hair spaghetti according to package directions. Stir in with other skillet contents.

Simmer whole concoction for 5-10 minutes. Serves 2.

Unfortunately I can no longer enjoy this because two years ago I discovered I am gluten intolerant. Such memories of pasta past!

It's a toss-up. Manicotti and ravioli are also contenders...







Argh! Can't decide!

...but I prefer linguine with white clam sauce (and yes, I'm second generation Sicillian)...

:)

:toast:

with a pink vodka sauce...yum

in a light tomato vodka cream sauce with lots of fresh romano cheese grated on top.

I like to use a bowl-like dish

sauteed with butter and onions, served with saourcream and kielbasa.

Ukrainian or Polish.

It's not a bolonese, or a marinara.... I don't know what I'd call it other than "spaghetti sauce" but I think it's very good. Lots of onions, mushrooms and peppers.

I usually make both meatballs and sweet sausage to go in my spaghetti sauce.

I love stuff shells w/ my homemade sauce.

I also like to take my homemade spaghetti sauce and combine it w/ a homemade alfredo... making a pink sauce.

w/ walnuts in it.

Very tasty.

Nothing like that in ours, especially almost nothing for vegetarians.

in our "Grille" section, they have a daily "Global Vegetarian" buffet.

in a thick meat sauce.....
mmm

I make a wheat pasta dish with a can of tomatoes, green and red peppers, onions, green and yellow squash and chicken..

Just kinda cook all the stuff in a huge frying pan in EEVO and italian seasonings, cook the pasta and mix it all together.....
I do cheat and buy the already cooked chicken breasts from the deli......

lost

hungry now..........
oh yeah I break the pasta before cooking it....


:hide: :hide:

olive oil, garlic, basil, and diced tomatoes....