related links
Our main pasta room
Meatballs, Sausages, other sides
The Chef's Anonymous Kitchen
Crockpot Lasagne, other recipes
Vegetable variety noodle recipes
Thanks for coming by. If you have recipes or experiences you'd like to share about sauces, please feel free to email me.
That’s amore!
First, a couple of pasta sauces most of us will have usually have heard about before, and eaten - -
Here’s a sauce peculiar to the area around Genova, in the region of Liguria…We know it as PESTO:
(this is traditionally served with taglierini, see recipe for the Genoa Green Noodle
With mortar and pestle, OR the broadside of a knife on your chopping board, mash and blend 3 cloves of garlic and ¼ cup minced sweet basil into a creamy paste. Add 1 Tbsp butter, ¼ cup olive oil, 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese. Mix thoroughly.
Just before serving, add ½ cup Boiling water. Stir well, and pour over cooked
strained noodles. Sprinkle with more grated cheese atop and serve immediately.
Here’s a sauce originating in the region of Emilia -- it is a tomato sauce, of a style favored in Bologna, called Ragu Alla Bolognese :
Place ¼ lbs minced salt pork in a kettle (a Dutch oven is ideal). Over low heat, as it begins to render its own lard, add ½ cup minced onion, 1 cup minced celery, and ½ cup minced carrot.
When the onion is golden-brown add 2 lbs ground beef. When meat is golden-brown add ¼ cup butter, pepper to taste, and stir well. Add 2 cups milk, stirring to mix. Cook over low heat until liquid is partially evaporated, about 15 minutes. Add 3 Tbsp of red or white wine
(optional) and also 1 ½ cups tomato puree or sauce, stir, cover, simmer for 1 ½hours. Serve over cooked, strained pasta.
Ragu con Fegato di Pollo
(to be used with Besciamella*,see recipe below, in making Bolognese Verdi Lasagna)
To the recipe listed above (Ragu Alla Bolognese), add a pinch of nutmeg, 3 whole cloves, and 1/2 lbs sliced chicken livers.
Add the cloves and nutmeg with the tomatoes to simmer for 1 hour; add chicken livers for the last 1/2 hour of cooking.
And here’s a classic from the Northern Regioni Italiane –
This white sauce can be used as a base for a seafood sauce (clam especially), or by itself: Besciamella:
Melt ¼ cup butter (unsalted preferred), and stir in ½ cup flour, ½ tsp salt over low heat, to make a smooth paste. Slowly add 3 cups HOT milk or cream , stirring constantly to make a creamy sauce.
Here’s a sauce original to the area around Ancona, in the region of La Marche, called “Mariner’s Sauce”; or more properly Salsa Alla Marinara:
Sauté 3 garlic cloves, minced and ¼ cup minced parsley in ½ cup olive oil. When garlic is delicately brown, add 2 cups diced tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, 1 tsp oregano, and simmer ½ hour or longer, till well blended and thick.
Finally, Salsa Parmigiana; which is a basic tomato sauce used in many casserole dishes, originating also out of Emilia (also known as Romagna – where Parma and Bologna are located):
Sauté ¼ cup minced onion, 1 minced garlic clove in ¼ cup olive oil until golden-brown. Add 1/3 cup minced carrot, 1 cup minced celery, ¼ cup minced sweet basil, salt & pepper to taste, and continue cooking until the veggies are wilted. Add 3 cups tomato sauce (or 2 small cans tomato paste diluted in 3 cans of water) and simmer 45 minutes minimum, or until it is tasty and thick.
Serve over your favorite cooked pasta.
Of course, I should also remind you of one of many food proverbs used in Italy: namely, fa companatico , which means, “it goes well with bread”.
SALSA DI UOVA E AGRO DI LIMONE
(to be served over the top of Roman style meatballs found at our link mentioned on this page)
Beat 3 egg yolks and juice from 2 lemons until thick and creamy. In a saucepan, saute 1/4 cup minced parsley, 2 cloves of garlic in 2 Tbsp olive oil until garlic is browned. Remove the garlic for discard or other use. Slowly add egg mixture and cook slowly, stirring constantly with wooden spoon until thick and creamy. Serve over beef.
Nam Jim Tua(Peanut Sauce)
Serve with Satay
In a food processor, grind green onions, galangal, lemon grass garlic, lime zest, cilantro and makrut.
Heat wok. Add peanut oil. When oil is hot, add onion-garlic puree.
Stir fry for 1 minute.
Add coconut milk, curry powder, peanut butter, palm sugar, tamarind liquid and lime juice and bring to a boil.
Cool. Serve at room temperature.
