Pasta Sauces

There are as many different kinds of pasta sauces as there are chefs, but I would like to cover a few and give you the recipes for the way I make them. 

Marinara Sauce:

Let's start with a basic Marinara. Marinara, as the name implies is thought to have originated with sailors plying the Mediterranean as early as the 1400's. It is a fairly quick sauce to make and was made by the sailors along the shore, when they didn't have a lot of time to spare. Marinara is tomato sauce made with garlic, oil, basil, red pepper flakes and oregano. Some cooks add a little red wine. I like to use sauteed onion in my Marinara, but that is non-traditional. Many people start their sauce with whole canned San Marzano tomatoes and crush them by hand. I am not quite that traditional as you will see from my recipe. I like Marinara that is savory, not sweet. Sweetness would be my main complaint with most store bought Marinara. If you read the label they will almost always have sugar added as well as a lot of preservatives. It is so easy to make your own Marinara and the flavor so much better, that there is no excuse for not making your own sauce every time. 

Ingredeients:

2 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 Medium Onion - finely diced  
6-7 Cloves Garlic - peeled and finely diced
2 - 28oz. Cans Crushed Tomatoes (crush your own if you can get                                                            canned San Marzano tomatoes,                                                          including all liquid)
2 - 15 oz. Cans Diced Tomatoes
Italian Seasoning (or fresh oregano and basil) to taste
Red Pepper Flakes - to taste
1 tsp Fennel Seeds - crushed
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Heat the olive oil in a soup kettle over medium low heat. Add the onion and cover. Let the onion sweat until it is translucent. Add the garlic once the onions are translucent and continue cooking until the garlic becomes fragrant and tender. Don't let the garlic brown. Add the crushed and diced tomatoes. If you are using dried Italian seasoning, start by adding a couple of tsp. to your sauce. Remember it is easy to add more herbs, but hard to take them out. If you are using fresh herbs, add about 2 tsp. of chopped oregano leafs and a couple of whole sprigs of basil. The basil sprigs will be removed before using the sauce. Add salt and pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Sample the sauce and adjust herbs and seasoning as desired. I like to add a teaspoon of crushed fennel seeds. Fennel is the flavor used in Italian sausage and it gives the sauce a savory and earthy flavor. Let the sauce simmer for 20-30 minutes, until it is hot and the flavors have all had time to merge. Remove the basil sprigs if using the fresh herbs. Serve over Spaghetti, Ziti or Rigatoni, liberally dusting with grated parmesan. 

If I want a meat sauce, I cook a pound or so of loose Italian sausage, drain and add to the sauce. If you want to combine the Italian sausage with some ground beef that works too.  Alternatively you can add whole cooked Italian sausage or cooked meatballs to the sauce and let them simmer in the sauce. Sometimes I add both meatballs and sausage so that guests can have a choice when the sauce is served with the pasta. When I want a red sauce for making lasagna, I thicken the sauce by adding another can of diced tomatoes and about two pounds of cooked loose Italian sausage. If you want a red sauce that is a little less acidic and has a pink color rather than the traditional dark red, add a little whole cream.  That makes a great sauce for chicken or eggplant parm. Feel free to be creative. Experiment. Maybe you want to add some sauteed mushroom or sliced olives to your sauce just to mix it up once in a while. As you can see, there is a great deal of flexibility once you have mastered making your own basic Marinara. 

Sage Brown Butter Sauce:

I love to use this sauce when making a vegetarian ravioli, like butternut squash ravioli.  It is very simple to make and is delicious over certain types of pasta or boiled new potatoes. 

Ingredients:

8 TBSP Butter
2  tsps. Minced Garlic
8-10 Fresh Sage Leaves - coarsely chopped
Bittersweet Chocolate

Preparation:

Melt butter over low heat in a large non-stick skillet. Add garlic and cook until fragrant and white. Do not brown garlic. Add sage and cook until sage is crispy and butter just begins to brown. To serve, add cooked raviolis such as butternut squash or mushroom to the skillet and toss to coat. Serve in a pasta bowl and grate some bittersweet chocolate over the pasta.

Alfredo Sauce:

This sauce is generally used for Fettuccine Alfredo, and is made with the cooked pasta in the pan.  In that respect it is different from the previous recipes,  

Ingredients:

1 LB. Fettuccine - cooked per package directions
1/2 Cup (one stick) Butter
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Preparation:


Cook Fettuccine per package directions. Just prior to the fettuccine being done, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet. Add the cream and the grated cheese. Toss to coat the pasta and season to taste with salt and pepper. This sauce can be taken up a notch by adding 4 OZ. of cut up smoked salmon or grilled chicken and some roasted asparagus cut into 1/2" pieces. 

Spaghetti Carbonara:

This is another sauce where you create the sauce with the cooked pasta in the pan, so I have included the spaghetti in the recipe. 

Ingredients:

1 LB. Spaghetti - cooked per package directions
2 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
6 Slices Bacon - Chopped
1/3 Cup Dry White Wine
3 Large Eggs
Salt and Black Pepper to taste
2/3 Cup Grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese

Preparation:

Cook spaghetti per package directions. While the spaghetti is cooking, combine the olive oil and bacon in a small skillet and cook until bacon is crisp. Add wine to skillet and cook until wine has evaporated. Beat together the eggs, salt and pepper and the grated cheese. Drain the pasta and return it to the hot pot. Quickly add the cheese/egg mixture and the hot bacon and oil, stirring to coat the pasta. The heat of the pasta and bacon will cook the eggs. 

Puttanesca Sauce:

I love to serve this sauce over sauteed fish fillets or swordfish steaks but it is more commonly served over pasta.

Ingredients:

3 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 Garlic Cloves - peeled 
3 Anchovy Fillets - diced finely
1/4 tsp.Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1 TBSP Tomato Paste
1 28 Oz. Can Whole Italian Tomatoes with juices - crushed by                                                                                             hand
1/2 of a 15 Oz. Can Diced Tomatoes with juices
2 Basil Sprigs
1/3 Cup Chopped Kalamata Olives
1 TBSP Capers
Salt and Black Pepper

Preparation:

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add garlic, anchovies, and crushed red pepper. Cook over medium heat until golden, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook while stirring for another minute or so. Add the canned tomatoes with all of their juices. Stir in the basil sprigs, olives and capers. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about thirty minutes until sauce is reduced to about three cups. Remove the basil sprigs and garlic cloves from the sauce. Serve over pasta or fish as suggested. 


Garlic and Oil Sauce for Seafood:

I use this sauce to cook seafood such as shrimp, clams or mussels. You can serve the seafood in the sauce with toasted garlic bread as an appetizer or over pasta as a main course.

Ingredients:

8 TBSP (1 stick) Butter
1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Shallot or 1/2 small Onion - finely diced
4-6 Cloves Garlic - peeled and finely diced
1 Cup Dry white Wine
8 Fresh Sage Leaves - finely chopped
1/2 Cup finely chopped parsley leaves
Leaves from 5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme - finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch Red Pepper Flakes

Preparation:

Melt Butter over medium low heat in a large non stick skillet. Stir in Olive Oil. Add Shallot and Garlic and cook until they are translucent. Add wine, parsley, sage and Thyme. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer for a few minutes and season to taste with salt, pepper and the red pepper flakes. Add seafood to sauce as desired. Clams will take longer than mussels or shrimp, and chunks of fresh fish require even less time, so if combining, add the clams first and then the other seafood adding any fish last.  Serve over pasta or as an appetizer directly out of the sauce.  

This should give you some idea of the many types of sauces and some of the ways they can be used. I hope you will try several of these suggestions. Don't be afraid to experiment. Season as you like and subtract or add ingredients if you prefer. Get creative. It will be fun!!