3x pimp your ready-made pasta sauce
The very best pasta sauce is made with fresh tomatoes that you let simmer for hours, but most of us simply don’t have time for that on a weekday. Would you rather reach for a jar of ready-made sauce? With these tips, you can make it genuinely delicious.
We on the editorial team don’t really like sauce from a jar. We always prefer canned tomatoes. But if you’d rather be lazy than tired, you don’t feel like chopping an onion and some garlic. We understand. With just a little attention, you can really make something of a ready-made sauce. This way, after a busy day, you can still make delicious spaghetti, lasagna or lots of meatballs in tomato sauce.
Are you really very lazy?
Then all you need to do is heat the sauce and season it. A little pepper and salt, a splash of olive oil or a knob of butter already works wonders. A little chili flakes or fresh basil does too. Tomato sauce can also be slightly acidic; in that case, a tiny bit of sugar can help. Too sweet? Add a little vinegar.
Are you a little less lazy?
Put the sauce in an oven dish with knobs of butter, whole garlic cloves, a few anchovy fillets, pepper, salt and perhaps some chili flakes. Half an hour in the oven at 220°C, perhaps giving it a stir once, and you’re done. If all goes well, the anchovies will have been completely absorbed into the sauce; you just need to mash the cooked garlic.
Are you capable of cooking for fifteen minutes?
Chop an onion and some garlic and gently fry them in a little oil or butter. Deglaze the pan with the ready-made sauce and make sure you scrape up the crispy bits from the bottom to give the sauce extra flavor. Really in a good mood? Add some sausage meat or bacon while frying the onions. Season with pepper and salt, and you’re done. Bet no one will notice that you went semi-ready-made?
Don’t: put sauce on dry pasta
Have you put effort into making a tasty sauce? Immediately stir the pasta into the pan with the sauce. It’s best to cook the pasta slightly too briefly, return it to the pan with the sauce and some pasta water, and heat it until the sauce has been absorbed by the pasta. Dry pasta sticks together and the sauce doesn’t cling to it, so the only possible end result is less tasty pasta. What a waste!
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