There was a time in my life where I would not dare use spaghetti sauce from a jar. I learned this from my mother, brother and sister-in-law, who are all great cooks . . . Making homemade pasta sauce was just the way it had to be – especially with a name like Stanchina. (The name is Austrian but seems a wee bit on the Italian side!)
One day it happened to me though – the reality of a busy life with children, a house, work and numerous other things set in. I was told by friends that sauce from a jar was great, so I began serving it up to my family on nights when I did not have time to cook and I have to agree it really does taste quite good. (Especially the Prego with garlic – Yikes!)
Whenever possible though, I still cook fresh pasta sauce. It really doesn’t take that much time and most of us, whether we have a garden or not, come across tomatoes in the summer and that is all you really need to start a good pasta sauce.
The trick is to just make it with what you have! If there is no garlic in the house, don’t use garlic – no need to run off to the store, just make do. Tomato sauce is so fun that way, you can experiment and get creative with whatever you have – just pretend like you’re in a good episode of Iron Chef! So have fun my culinary friends, and if you come up with a good pasta sauce send it to us at [email protected] and we will put it in the Happy Chef! In the meantime here’s a good place to start . . .
5 fresh garden tomatoes
2 tbs. olive oil
1 medium green pepper, diced
2 banana peppers diced
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic minced
½ cup chopped fresh basil leaves
¼ cup chopped fresh oregano
1 tbs. sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tsp. tomato paste
1 – 25 oz bag frozen cheese ravioli
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
-Cut tomatoes in quarters and chop in food processor for just a few seconds so tomatoes are still chunky, not puréed. Pour tomatoes into medium saucepan and begin to cook on medium heat.
– !n a small skillet Sautee next four ingredients in olive oil until tender, add sautéed ingredients to tomato mixture in saucepan.
-Add basil, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper to tomato mixture.
-Follow package direction to cook raviolis.
– Simmer on low to med-low heat for 20-30 minutes.
-Add tomato paste, stir until well blended, simmer 10 more minutes.
– Let sauce rest 5 minutes
-Serve sauce over raviolis sprinkle with fresh parmesan and ENJOY!
By Leigh Sackett [email protected]