Spaghetti sauce...

[Otter]

mudbug, Stouffer's does have some meals really nailed! Sherrie loves the Chicken in Peanut Sauce. She would kill for it, I wouldn't go that far, but it is quite good. There are always a few Stouffer's in the freezer for those days when popping one in the micro is the most energetic anyone can get.

 

[mudbug]

Good ole Stouffer's - we buy in bulk when it's on sale. Like you said, good for what we call the "veg' nights (as in "veg out"). Will have to try the chicken in peanut sauce one.

 

[Lifter]

OOOH! Yuck!

Can you guys try this for "spaghetti?"

Okay, a few "basics" first..."spaghetti" is a fairly "thick" past noodle, comparatively, you might want to look at the "angel hair" stuff ("capellini?") as the light side of this...

Note the skinnier the pasta noodle the less the meat you serve with it, and the less the spicing that goes into the sauce...so when you get up into the penne noodles, the meat can be substantial, and the sauce pretty fiery...as the pasta will stand for it...

So lets start with a simple pasta dinner, fairly "bland" (ie not "spice enhanced" but really good, nonetheless!)

Start with a really big pot of water with salt, set to boil...

In a saucepan, a quarter cup of olive oil (you can use he cheap stuff, I use the more expensive, its all I buy, and its probably trivial...) set on about "7" out of 10 on the range dial...add about 3 tablespoons of chopped garlic right away, and then add an onion, the ends in rings, the middle chopped and diced, and let these saute until "blanched or transluscent"....

A jar of Catelli "Garden Sauce"or, better yet Classico Sicilia Roasted Red Pepper sauce, and a 5 oz jar of tomato paste, mixed up to an even consistency...

Keep heating low, and keep stirring!

Add a stalk of celery, sliced very thinly, and stir in...

Add a green or red sweet pepper (your choice!) hulled, de-seeded and diced, and mix, stir and remove from heat into a serving bowl (if you are a mushroom fan, and I am NOT, then at the moment of the peppers, add cleaned, sliced mushrooms...(about 6 should do it) and make sure the sauce is covering both peppers and mushrooms, so they get cooked in the ambient heat...

In the middle of this evolution, your pasta water should break into a boil (you DID remember to add salt, idn't you?) and you can cast in the capellini noodles or angel hair pasta "swirls" (Emiril is entirely correct; if its good quality, it doesn't matter if its fresh or dried!) and you give this about three minutes at a full boil, stirring that it doesn't stick...

When the pasta noodles stick to the wall when you toss one there, its done...drain imediately and pump on some olive oil and mix...with noodles this light in diameter, you don't want or need meat...

If you want further instruction, kindly reply to this post, and we'll go the next few steps...

Lifter

 

[luvs]

if you ask me, the jarred stuff is garbage. it's too sweet and just all wrong. i cannot even swallow it. i would ask a local restaurant if you can purchase some of thier sauce? that would be much better, or soliciting thehelp of a friend who is a good cook. that stuff in the jar was banned from my house when i was like 2 years old.

 

[kitchenelf]

Lifter - people always look at me with a shocked look when I add celery to my sauce - I love the texture it gives!!! I have also added matchstick carrots - good food!!!!

I will have to look for the red pepper sauce - some jarred sauces are quite worth buying for the convenience (sorry luvs - yes, some are too sweet and I stay away from those).

Lifter - one time try just a tad of red wine vinegar in your sauce (just a tad or you will hate me for sure :P ) - gives a nice twist for a change.

 

[ironchef]

I've said it once...actually, probably more like 5-6 times...I've said it a thousand times: You need to use canned San Marzano Tomatoes. You can make a good red sauce in 20 minutes. Here's how simple it is:

Saute 2 oz. of diced bacon or pancetta until the fat is rendered and crispy, about 4-5 minutes.

Add one medium diced onion and saute until translucent and lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes

Add 1/2 tsp. of crushed red chili flakes and 3 cloves of minced garlic, and saute for 1 minute

Add 1/4 c. chicken stock, 1/2 c. white wine, and one can of San Marzano tomatoes and it's juices. Using your hand, break up the tomatoes into bite sized pieces.

Reduce sauce until thickened. Add 2 Tbsp. fresh Thyme, and 2 tsp. fresh minced rosemary. Season to taste with kosher salt and pepper.

This is a version of Amatriciana sauce which is a Roman dish.

 

[Lifter]

Hi Otter

There's a lot of sauces out there on shelves (and I've tried most of them, as we eat a lot of pasta!), unfortunately, this is also where most of them should stay...on the shelf, in the store, that is...

Without dissing anybody's product, the ones that I do buy would include Classico, the President's Choice Arrabitta, and Cattelli garden...its been a while since I tried Prego, and I dimly recall it tasting a bit too sweet, but again, everyone's tastes are different, which again is why I'm not dissing the product.

Universally, the spaghetti sauces are too thinned out to be thought as good, and need the addition of a small can of tomato paste added in...

I do not add meat to my spaghetti recipes, as I find that this takes away from the flavour experience, but again, who died and made me king?

"Spaghetti" is a pretty broad category, as there are a tone of very different pasta out there that get subtly different in texture, and so (should) demand different sauces...

In brief, the hotter the ingredients are (ie like hot peppers, tobasco, etc) the thicker the noodles have got to be...

Where you get down to angel hair pasta, capellini, etc, you lighten up on the size of the chopped add-ins...

Anyways, here's how we eat it in our house...

About 3 qts of water, salted and set to boil on high...(salt is cheap, use lots)

In a saucepan, about a quarter cup of olive oil (any olive oil, the cheapn stuff works just as well as extra virgin, you're not going to taste it!) set on medium heat...add 3 tbspns of chopped garlic...peel and slice into rings one medium Vidalia onion (or, if making it "strong", a yellow onion), and saute until transluscent and the smell is driving you nuts...add your jar of pasta sauce and the tin of tomato paste and mix thoroughly, if gently, reducing heat to medium...

about a stalk and a half of fresh celery, very finely sliced...(mix in)

allow to "cook" a little...

(keep up the stirring!)

A sweet red or green pepper, , hulled, de-veined and de-seeded and diced, stirred in...

A half dozen cremini mushrooms (okay, you can use the white ones instead, just cremini's seem to taste better!), washed quickly, stems cut off at the base and very finely sliced, then very gently stirred into the sauce, so they are all covered...turn off the heat...

Your pasta water is by now starting to boil up full, so calculating for 4 people, about a one inch diameter bunch of capellini noodles (the skinniest you can find!) tossed in, and please stir with a fork and TIME this...you must keep stirring at this, so the noodles don't stick together...

Pour your sauce into its serving dish (we are trying to achieve the onion and garlic fully cooked, the celery mostly cooked, the pepper with a bit of "crunch" left in its small pieces, and the mushroom barely cooked when its plated...)

as soon as you can extract a noodle and through it at the wall or cupboard, and it sticks, they are done...drain immediately, dump the noodles to a serving bowl and add some "good" olive oil...tos lightly (we're trying to prevent them sticking together, which is a pita thing, for me....hopefully, you used enough salt to keep them from being gummy), and serve, with olive oil, or butter or margerine, then the sauce on top, then Parmesan cheese (or grated Asiago, if you want to splurge!)...everyone gets to toss it on their own plates, remember the big spoons so you can twirl it onto your forks...

Bon Apetit!

Lifter

 

[kitchenelf]

Ironchef - I get Marzano tomatoes all the time = I love them. They are by far my favorite. Sometimes I want a smooth sauce = I'll have to get some and puree them.

 

[buckytom]

lifter, i have to disagree with one small point you made. one of my favorite dishes is frutti di mare fra diavolo, served over angel hair. the sauce is plain (no added veggies) but hot, and the pasta skinny to allow the seafood flavors to stand out. clams, mussels, shrimp, crab, lobster, conch, scrod, and squid all work well in this dish.

oh, and has anyone tried using pork rib ends in their gravy, uh sorry sauce. i like to add them, well browned but not cooked all the way through, to my sauce. same with sweet sausage. i like a lot of fennel seed in my sausage, so i push a few more in to it before i brown it. when they begin to fall apart, the sauce is done.

adding savory is a nice change of pace to go with or in place of oregano and basil.

i also like to brown or carmelize onions, peppers, and garlic before putting them in. you can put the onions and peppers in raw for a different flavor, but i think garlic should be browned to remove the bitterness. in the summer, i like to add the onions and peppers raw, along with sliced mushrooms, zucchini, celery, and carrots to make a garden style sauce.

 

[Lifter]

Hi Buckytom

There you go...if I served pasta with seafood here, I'd get hung on my own front door!, but you are right that you do it your own way, with just a few clues for guidance and if it tastes good, it probably IS good!

Noting to Iron Chef that we cannot seem to get canned or fresh Marzano tomato's here, and even if we could, adding chili flakes would have me back up there on the crucifix...

Its funny, to have the feedback on "Roman" dishes, in June, Margaret and I went to Rome and while I sought to find a "spaghetti dish" similar to our North American sorts...alas! its not like that at all...and again, here in Hamilton, there are more Italian sorts than anywhere else in the world but Italy itself...and so I question the advice abit...

And some of the "jarred stuff" has progressed since "Luv's Food" was 2 years of age, fortunately, and even us greying, balding types get good tips from our Elven contributors...I've tried a splash of wine, Elf, and that kicks it up a bit, but will now try the vinegar thing, and, yes, will be a ontrol freak of how "big" a "splash" but you are likely onto something here

Okay, will let you al, shoot at me now!

Lifter

 

[buckytom]

lifter, why no pasta with seafood? i think they go well together, just don't add cheese (a venial sin, imo)

 

[Lifter]

Hi Buckytom!

Personally, I have to agree, Seafood Linguine just turns me into hyperdrive for appetite,

Shredded Snow Crab and mini shrimp in pizza just kick butt, even if you have to do it yourself (Sorry for such reference Elf!)

Regrettably, we don't get a lot of the good and fresh stuff here, nor do the wife and daughter appreciate it, even when we do, and I'm not much on linguine, unless its got all those goodies..and you are TOTALLY right about the cheese thing...

Lifter

 

[buckytom]

oh man, snow crab!!!!!!!!!!!!!! never had it on pizza. my favorite crab, sweeter and more flavorful than king.

try making mussels marinara, or fra diavolo, then use the leftover sauce for pizza, yummm.

 

[ironchef]

Hi Buckytom

There you go...if I served pasta with seafood here, I'd get hung on my own front door!, but you are right that you do it your own way, with just a few clues for guidance and if it tastes good, it probably IS good!

Noting to Iron Chef that we cannot seem to get canned or fresh Marzano tomato's here, and even if we could, adding chili flakes would have me back up there on the crucifix...

Its funny, to have the feedback on "Roman" dishes, in June, Margaret and I went to Rome and while I sought to find a "spaghetti dish" similar to our North American sorts...alas! its not like that at all...and again, here in Hamilton, there are more Italian sorts than anywhere else in the world but Italy itself...and so I question the advice abit...

And some of the "jarred stuff" has progressed since "Luv's Food" was 2 years of age, fortunately, and even us greying, balding types get good tips from our Elven contributors...I've tried a splash of wine, Elf, and that kicks it up a bit, but will now try the vinegar thing, and, yes, will be a ontrol freak of how "big" a "splash" but you are likely onto something here

Okay, will let you al, shoot at me now!

Lifter

I'll try to be nice...

I worked and trained under Chef Donato Loperfido, from Alborobello (sp?), a village in Puglia, Italy, and he taught me the basics and techniques behind true Italian cuisine. Chef Donato worked and trained in restaurants in Naples, Rome, Tuscany, and Piemonte. It was he, who taught me the Amatriciana sauce, as well as the usage of red chili flakes in Italian food. FYI, red chili flakes is widely used, most notably in Sicilian cooking, but throughout Italy as well. I'm pretty sure those people back in Italy knew what they were doing.

True Italian food is unfortunately found too few and far between in North American restaurants. Unless someone is lucky and has a neighborhood Italian Bistro that serves up dishes like Risotto al Funghi con Tartufo or Spezatino alla Boscaiola, the only places you can really find true Italian cuisine is at a higher end restaurant such as Mario Batali's Lupo or Babbo. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but Bucca di Beppo and the Olive Garden does not serve true Italian food and they're both horrible anyway. Unfortunately, the majority of restaurants only serve stuff like Veal Marsala/Picatta, Fettucine Alfredo (gag), and Eggplant/Veal/Chicken Parmesana because 90% of the people perceive that is what Italian food is. They serve what they have to in order to appease the masses. I don't condone that because everyone has to make a living, and that's ok. It just makes it harder when we get some idiot who comes in the restaurant who thinks they know how something should be prepared, when all of their knowledge of food and a cuisine comes from a recycled generic product that's been served over, and over, and over again.

The best pasta is a seafood pasta: Risotto ai Frutti di Mare. There's nothing like it.

 

[buckytom]

ironchef, i'll be nice also.
have you ever been to nyc? we have a few italians here too.
there's both kinds of italian food here, the italian-american recycled generic stuff, which can be quite good, and the "real" italian. i put real in quotes because trying to nail down a specific recipe for any true italian dish is very difficult. as i'm sure you know, the 2 main things that define italian cooking are regional foodstuffs, and their season or freshness. but then wthin the regions, every family has it's own little secrets and traditions in the food prep and cooking. sometimes, there's even differences within a family.
in my town alone, a small suburb 10 miles west of the city, there are 4 or 5 small restaurants that are owned by naturalized italians, each re-creating the dishes that they grew up on, or have learned the last time they went home to visit family. they are local places, often byo, far from a high end restaurant. one place, really a glorified pizza place, has excellent real italian dishes. i've ordered cioppino there, as well as chicken parm. both were excellent. i've even made a deal with the owner that i'll come in some friday night and wash dishes, and in return he'll teach me how to make some of my favorite dinners.
italian food in america may have started out as chey boy-ar-dee (chef boyardi, an actual italian immigrant), but has become so popular that the masses here are clamoring for the real thing, along with pizza and parm .

btw, i happen to agree with you about the olive garden, and fettucine aldredo.
and i have had risotto with mushrooms (con tartofo?), and seafood risotto. i prefer seafood over angel hair, but that's just my preference. my wife's fav new restaurant near us is called risotto, where they offer about 10 different risotto dishes. her fave is the risotto al frutti del mare.

 

[ironchef]

ironchef, i'll be nice also.
have you ever been to nyc? we have a few italians here too.
there's both kinds of italian food here, the italian-american recycled generic stuff, which can be quite good, and the "real" italian. i put real in quotes because trying to nail down a specific recipe for any true italian dish is very difficult. as i'm sure you know, the 2 main things that define italian cooking are regional foodstuffs, and their season or freshness. but then wthin the regions, every family has it's own little secrets and traditions in the food prep and cooking. sometimes, there's even differences within a family.
in my town alone, a small suburb 10 miles west of the city, there are 4 or 5 small restaurants that are owned by naturalized italians, each re-creating the dishes that they grew up on, or have learned the last time they went home to visit family. they are local places, often byo, far from a high end restaurant. one place, really a glorified pizza place, has excellent real italian dishes. i've ordered cioppino there, as well as chicken parm. both were excellent. i've even made a deal with the owner that i'll come in some friday night and wash dishes, and in return he'll teach me how to make some of my favorite dinners.
italian food in america may have started out as chey boy-ar-dee (chef boyardi, an actual italian immigrant), but has become so popular that the masses here are clamoring for the real thing, along with pizza and parm .

btw, i happen to agree with you about the olive garden, and fettucine aldredo.
and i have had risotto with mushrooms (con tartofo?), and seafood risotto. i prefer seafood over angel hair, but that's just my preference. my wife's fav new restaurant near us is called risotto, where they offer about 10 different risotto dishes. her fave is the risotto al frutti del mare.

Buckytom, you're lucky that you do live in an area that has a high Italian population. Most people aren't that lucky, and aren't exposed to good Italian food, nor do they have the access to amount of Italian food places that you do. Where you live is comparable to what I have for access to Mexican food. I was lucky that I had the opputunity to work with Donato, who showed me the different cuisines of Italy using ingredients that were more prevalent to those specific regions. I wish I could agree with you in the sense that the masses are clamoring more for the real thing, but the reality is that the masses go to Olive Garden, The Old Spaghetti Factory, etc. Maybe not where you live, but that's comparable to saying that the masses in America are clamoring for more Mexican food, so less people are going to Taco Bell, in comparison to where I live. People go to what's available to them, and most don't have a neighborhood family owned Mexican or Italian place that serves great stuff.

But, once again I do envy you. Italian food is my favorite cuisine, and the restaurants in NYC sure does beat the ones we have in LA. Spagos? Overrated.

To answer your question, yeah, I've been to NYC three times. Great food. Best street vendors in the country NYC is my third favorite food city in North America. San Francisco is #1. LA is #2. NYC is tied for third with Miami. However, NYC does have my favorite restaurant, Le Bernardin in Manhattan. I just prefer West Coast seafood to East Coast seafood, that's all. Oh and mushrooms is funghi. Tartufo is truffles.

 

[buckytom]

i will agree again (about west coast seafood) with a few exceptions. i prefer east coast oysters, they're a little more briny and/or mineral-ly, and nothing beats maine lobster. oh, i also prefer gulf shrimp, and maryland blue claw crabs, but then i've never had a good dungeness.

 

[kitchenelf]

bangbang - we need you here

 

[Lifter]

Its said there are more Italians uin the Toronto Hamilton corridor than anyplace else on the planet outsside of Italy, and I believe it. The local grocery "Fortino's" stocks basic and advanced ingredients year round.

We were over to Rome in June, and the "Italian cooking" on offer there is vastly different from the run of the mill restaurant here, but there are good ones here if you go looking for them...

Lifter

 

[Lifter]

Just to quickly answer a few points...

We don't do seafood with pasta because a) the girls don't like it and b) our youngest would go into toxic shock from contact with most shellfish, but loves pasta (a special needs child, on a very restricted diet)...so its not worth it.

Likewise, with the chili pepper flakes, the tolerance for adding heat to food here is VERY low...why cook what people won't eat, much less enjoy?

It is "neat" to note that if you travel Quebec, or to predominantly "French" parts of Canada, the language they speak is not "French" in the current "Parisian" concept...but a "French" that is evolved from those roots...(and likewise their cooking is contental French in tradition, but adapted to North American supplies, and again, evolved to what they enjoy...)

So it goes, I would think, with Italian cooking issues...our Roma tomatoes are widely used with good success; our versions of Parmesan and Asiago are subtly different than those I tasted in Italy, as obviously our stock feeds differently than does theirs...and spices and herbs are probably grossly different too... The methods remain the same, or at least "similar", so to my thinking its still "Italian cooking", even if it gives in to not being so finicky on each and every component...

Likewise, I get off work at 1700 on good days, and dinner is supposed to be served for 1800...this makes the "do it yourself" methods a little too time intensive in preparation to be practical... and suggest that I am "typical" of readers on this Board...

Likewise when in Rome, I visited the local grocery markets and noted the canned and bottled "spaghetti sauce" that looked no different from Prego, Classico, etc, likewise both fresh ravioli in fridge packs, tortellini, and dried pasta,, likely made from the same durham wheat shipped to Italy from North America...and witnessed bona fide Italians buying the stuff and taking it home...I can only infer they were not dumping the contents and using the containers for other purposes...

All this being said, I'm quite interested in what IronChef has to say in terms of ingredients and preparation...some day I will be retired, and am anxious to use the spare time to pursue excellence...a description and source of his tomatoes would be a great start!

And by all means, MORE POSTS!

I can get the veal, cut and cured to foreign specifications at our custom packers here, I just don't know how to take it from there! By all means, SPEAK UP, IronChef...

Lifter