Fair enough. I was trying to keep it as simple as possible for novices’ sake. Plus I tend to be lazy about it anyway.
I’ll toss in some wine if there’s some around the kitchen, but I don’t always. Again, I was trying to keep it as simple as possible, and like I said after the steps, “Experiment.” I tend to tinker with the recipe a lot, so it never really comes out exactly the same way twice, which I find is the beauty of having a simple basic sauce recipe; you can do whatever else you want to it, which is what makes it so much fun to cook.
What snobbery? Fresh pasta sauce is so easy to make that there is little reason to use jarred unless you are a) really pressed for time, b) really lazy, or c) don’t know any better. We are here to fight c.
Seconding the Muir Glen reccomendation for canned tomatoes. If I don’t have any San Marzanos on hand (rare) that’s the go-to choice.
Have you read the thread? Half the people here are outright offended by the assumption that they’d even tried these products.
Also it’s ridiculous to say that making sauce from scratch and using the sauce in a jar is equivalent from a labor standpoint, it’s not. People use jar sauce for a handful of reasons, it comes in it’s own resealable container and can be portions out for 1 or 2 people easily. You can go to the store and buy 1 thing and store it forever so you can break it out at great need. With jarred sauce you have a pasta dinner in *precisely *the time it takes to boil noodles. There’s no need to know what spices you like, what they taste like, how potent they are, how fresh they are and most importantly keep them stocked in your cabinets. For a sizable portion of the country, especially urban professionals with small kitchens and little time, you simply aren’t likely to always have a handful of Italian spices on hand. There’s a reason pizza places send out packets of red pepper flake and oregano in the delivery boxes.
Yes, in the scope of home cooking making a scratch marinara sauce is easy relative to baking a roast or preparing a pie from scratch. Compared to opening a jar and dumping it onto hot pasta? Not even in the ballpark.
Scratch pasta sauce keeps just as long in the fridge as an opened jar of the store-bought stuff. It’s healthier, cheaper, and tastes better. The only reason to use jarred is slovenliness.
Anyhow, I do use convenience foods quite a lot. Hell, my usual lunch is just a frozen Lean Cuisine or Smart Ones meal. But I just don’t like most of the jarred pasta sauces (too sweet, too cooked tasting, too much a mish-mash of generic “Italian herbs”), and the type of tomato sauce I like, I can make in the amount of time it takes to get a pot of water boiling and cooking the pasta. I personally do not consider making tomato sauce inconvenient.
I dig the Prego, but that’s only a base, to which more veggies must be added. And I start with the chunky garden veggie variety, but add more tomato, pepper, garlic, and sometimes onion.
It sounds like (from the other posters) that its pretty easy to make from scratch, so maybe I’ll try it, but I like the flavor of Prego.
I know - I’m a slacker. I also like frozen pizza and other crap “food”. My tastes are quite simple.
I like ragu-not to acidic, not too sweet. The really expensive saces are not worth it (ones like Emerils. Raos, etc.)
If you are foung to spend $6.00-$8.00, make it yourself.
Thought about this thread today. I bought a jar of Grandessa Marinara (their “upscale”)from Aldi so I can report on that tonight. I made it with spinach ravioli. It was horrible. So salty it’s inedible. I wish I’d tasted it before I dumped it on the ravioli. The kids don’t seem to mind it but I’d just as soon rinse it off and eat the ravioli plain.
Also, it’s not snobbery to not ever eat pasta out of a jar. I didn’t eat it like that until I was an adult because of my upbringing. We just didn’t have it, just like my SO didn’t have jarred mole back in Mexico. We had something even more lowbrow, but just as tasty to my ten year old taste buds. Now though, I have tried the jarred sauce and I know I’d personally rather make it myself, at least with crushed tomatoes and herbs and a little cheese. I learned to make it when I was a working single mother, so it must have been worth the time spent. Actually I find cooking to be relaxing so it’s something I enjoyed doing after work.
My mom never used canned or jarred spaghetti sauce when I lived at home. She always used the packet mixes. I recommend experimenting with them- some are really good. Most call for a big can of tomato sauce or one little can of paste, but great results can be had using diced 'maters also. Nowadays, I make my own sauces since I’m on a low-sodium diet.
I shall put in a recommendation here for Red Gold tomato products- they’re from central IN, where some of the best tomatoes are grown.
I second the recommendation. If I can’t get Muir Glens or they’re too pricey at the store I’m at, Red Gold is my next-in-line choice for domestic tomatoes.
You guys keep forgetting that not all of us prefer the “light and bright” sauces that are given as examples of the quick and easy sauce. The type I prefer is long simmered with lots of herbs and spices for a deep rich flavor. There is no way it is easier to make this type of sauce than opening a jar of pre-made.
The mob will probably chase me down with pitchforks and stone me, but if I had to choose from a jar of Prego or a sauce made from just a can of tomatoes (even Red Gold which I agree are the best) and some garlic… I’d take the Prego. I’m sure for some occasion and we are looking to highlight the scallops, proscuitto or whatever I’m sure I would enjoy it for a change, but for a night after a late soccer practice with pasta, some ground beef, a quick salad, and garlic bread… give me the Prego.
To be honest, HUNTS PASTA SAUCE, IN A CAN IS THE BEST! Got some from the church food bank and it is fantastic. Not too sweet or vinegar tasteing and you can tweak it to your taste. Lesser known but worth a try.
I grew up on homemade pasta sauce. Yum! The food of angels. But I’ve switched over to jarred sauce in my adulthood for a variety of reasons, one of which is that I cannot manage to replicate my mother’s recipe. For spaghetti, it must be Newman’s Own Sockerooni. (There must be no other.) I add hamburger, onion, garlic, and a bit of oregano. When I make lasagna, though, I will use Prego. I don’t use Ragu for anything. That stuff is just nasty red water.
For spaghetti, it must be Newman’s Own Sockerooni. (There must be no other.) I add hamburger, onion, garlic, and a bit of oregano. When I make lasagna, though, I will use Prego. I don’t use Ragu for anything. That stuff is just nasty red water.