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DJ...
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A mate of mine runs a small restaurant in Napoli and gave me some pretty cool pasta recipes. First one to master is making a pomodoro sauce (basic tomato sauce). This sauce is awesome in pastas and as a pizza sauce base. It freezes really well and stays fresh in the fridge for about a week from my experience. I always have a bottle of this frozen in freezer, but remember not to microwave defrost it otherwise you will break the bottle - instead you can keep them in vacuum packed bags if you think you will need them on the fly for a quick dish.
Pomodoro sauce:
Heat up about 100ml of olive oil in a pot with a whole chopped onion and about a tablespoon of garlic. Cook this slowly and keep stirring it. Blend 3 litres (roughly 3kg of tinned tomatoes). If you can get tinned roma tomatoes then use that - add it to the pot once the garlic and onions are cooked. Season with salt (to taste - always remember to taste) and add a few bay leaves. Tie the bay leaves together or place it in some muslin cloth so you can take it out easily - you just want the flavours to infuse into the sauce - or you can strain the sauce afterwards. Cook the sauce on a low heat for about an hour, then add fresh basil, one tablespoon of sugar and about 2 tabllespoons of butter and cook for another 10 minutes. That's your sauce. It really is worthwhile making your own, trust me!!!
Variations:
Arabbiatta (Chilli)
You can serve this as is, topped with fresh herbs and parmesan, or you can fry it before serving with some fresh chilli and vodka which makes a great arrabiatta sauce.
Smoked salmon pasta
Saute onions in some butter and add smoked salmon pieces once the onions are translucent. Add vodka and crank up the heat but be careful because the vodka can flambe easily. Cook out the alcohol. Add some of the pomodoro sauce you have already made/stored, and then add cream and a few capers and turn down the heat. Reduce the sauce for a bit, season to taste and serve with tagliatelle pasta topped with some fresh dill...
Montanesca Sauce (mushroom and bacon sauce)
Fry off some mushrooms (preferably something like sh1take or another wild mushroom but you can keep it simple with mushroom or chestnut mushrooms) and bacon (also, parma ham/prosciutto is best but ordinary bacon will do). Remove mushroom and bacon once cooked and deglaze the pan with some white wine. Add pomodoro sauce and cream and reduce to about half. Serve with penne pasta and top with the mushroom and bacon. It really is that simple.
Frutti Di Mare (Seafood)
Cook fresh mussels in white wine until opened. Fry off calamari and prawns in olive oil and garlic. Heat the arrabiatta variation of the pomodoro sauce and add some of the white wine and mussel stock you just made by cooking the mussels. Deglaze the prawn and calamari pan with a touch of white wine as well and add this too. Also squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and add a little sugar to the sauce. Reduce the sauce by half and serve with spaghetti and the seafood - again, so simple! But you need the base pomodoro sauce handy...
Pomodoro sauce is the base for many italian sauces so be creative. Just try to remember to keep a balance of flavours - you want the flavours to complement each other, not work against each other. If you do work with a very strong flavour(s), then remember that the other ingredients in a dish should be able to stand up against this flavour, so intensify their flavours by reducing your sauce further for example.
And remember to season - this is where most cooks go wrong - they forget salt. Use a good salt as well, not this table salt bought en mass. Pepper is not always needed when seasoning either, as this can be done right at the end as it doesnt really cook into individual ingredients, unlike salt. I work on the principle of tasting and seasoning after adding new ingredients, and this in fact results in me using less salt than trying to mine flavours out of a dish right at the end with too much salt. Remember to taste, and remember to season...
Pomodoro sauce:
Heat up about 100ml of olive oil in a pot with a whole chopped onion and about a tablespoon of garlic. Cook this slowly and keep stirring it. Blend 3 litres (roughly 3kg of tinned tomatoes). If you can get tinned roma tomatoes then use that - add it to the pot once the garlic and onions are cooked. Season with salt (to taste - always remember to taste) and add a few bay leaves. Tie the bay leaves together or place it in some muslin cloth so you can take it out easily - you just want the flavours to infuse into the sauce - or you can strain the sauce afterwards. Cook the sauce on a low heat for about an hour, then add fresh basil, one tablespoon of sugar and about 2 tabllespoons of butter and cook for another 10 minutes. That's your sauce. It really is worthwhile making your own, trust me!!!
Variations:
Arabbiatta (Chilli)
You can serve this as is, topped with fresh herbs and parmesan, or you can fry it before serving with some fresh chilli and vodka which makes a great arrabiatta sauce.
Smoked salmon pasta
Saute onions in some butter and add smoked salmon pieces once the onions are translucent. Add vodka and crank up the heat but be careful because the vodka can flambe easily. Cook out the alcohol. Add some of the pomodoro sauce you have already made/stored, and then add cream and a few capers and turn down the heat. Reduce the sauce for a bit, season to taste and serve with tagliatelle pasta topped with some fresh dill...
Montanesca Sauce (mushroom and bacon sauce)
Fry off some mushrooms (preferably something like sh1take or another wild mushroom but you can keep it simple with mushroom or chestnut mushrooms) and bacon (also, parma ham/prosciutto is best but ordinary bacon will do). Remove mushroom and bacon once cooked and deglaze the pan with some white wine. Add pomodoro sauce and cream and reduce to about half. Serve with penne pasta and top with the mushroom and bacon. It really is that simple.
Frutti Di Mare (Seafood)
Cook fresh mussels in white wine until opened. Fry off calamari and prawns in olive oil and garlic. Heat the arrabiatta variation of the pomodoro sauce and add some of the white wine and mussel stock you just made by cooking the mussels. Deglaze the prawn and calamari pan with a touch of white wine as well and add this too. Also squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and add a little sugar to the sauce. Reduce the sauce by half and serve with spaghetti and the seafood - again, so simple! But you need the base pomodoro sauce handy...
Pomodoro sauce is the base for many italian sauces so be creative. Just try to remember to keep a balance of flavours - you want the flavours to complement each other, not work against each other. If you do work with a very strong flavour(s), then remember that the other ingredients in a dish should be able to stand up against this flavour, so intensify their flavours by reducing your sauce further for example.
And remember to season - this is where most cooks go wrong - they forget salt. Use a good salt as well, not this table salt bought en mass. Pepper is not always needed when seasoning either, as this can be done right at the end as it doesnt really cook into individual ingredients, unlike salt. I work on the principle of tasting and seasoning after adding new ingredients, and this in fact results in me using less salt than trying to mine flavours out of a dish right at the end with too much salt. Remember to taste, and remember to season...
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