To share with you the best pasta sauce recipe ever

[brightonroc]

It's the most simple sauce ever and it's amazing!

Chop an onion super small (put in blender if you can until almost mush)

Fry for 3 mins

Add a finely chopped garlic clove

Fry for 2 mins

Add a tin of chopped tomatoes

Add 100mls water and a chicken stock cube

Stir

Cook for 10-30mins

Add handful chopped basil

Pepper to taste

done

Enjoy!!

Need salt too, will boost the sweetness. Depends on how salty your stock cube is of course.

Also celery is a must. Sofritto is the italian basic. Its onions, carrot and celery, but I suppose a stock cube might cover this savoury aspect, and the sugar substitute for the carrot. But try sofritto if you can OP. Let the celery cook down well until translucent and very soft.

Cinnamon yes! Just a touch.

Sounds delicious OP!

This is awesome! Thanks for the recommendations guys.

I'm married to a chef and he has always cooked so I'm just getting into it now.

Sugar...and a pinch of bicarb to reduce the acidity. More richness, less sharpness.

Thanks OP. I do similar except for the finely minced onion so will try that next time don't normally cook for that long either!

An Italian told me he always puts some finely chopped celery in, for flavour

How revolutionary. I take it you've never heard of soffritto?

I thought the OP was going to go on about that one that was doing the rounds a couple of years ago where you simmered a tin of tomatoes and a tablespoon of butter for half an hour and everyone on the internet was raving about 'the best pasta sauce ever' so top marks for originality anyway.

You forgot the salt.

What is it with brits and lack of salt?!

1/3 cup of black tea goes in mine, better than red wine 🤤

Anyhoo, my favourite sauce (for spaghetti, but can also use any pasta) is:

warm up a shit tonne of butter in a frying pan
add 2 very finely chopped garlic cloves and a pinch of chilli flakes
fry for a minute, don't let the garlic brown
add tinned tuna, finely chopped parsley and capers if you like them and fry for another minute
add the juice of half a lemon or 1 lemon if you love lemon (I love lemon)
add salt and pepper to taste
stir through cooked spaghetti with a shitload of fresh parmesan and more butter if it's too dry.
check the season again. serve. yum.

@brightonroc I'm going to give this a go, I've never made my own pasta sauce before.

The best basic sauce recipe cooked by Nonna's the world over is even much easier than this:

4 tins of the cheapest chopped tomatoes

1 onion, peeled and just cut in half and upended in sauce (DO NOT CHOP)

Olive oil - a big glug

COOK FOR AT LEAST 2 HOURS ON LOWEST SIMMER - this makes it non sour

What is it with brits and lack of salt

It's rammed down our throats here that salt is bad for us. So we don't season our food properly to save half a gram of salt per serving, but then have a cheese sandwich and packet of crisps for lunch every day, which contains about five times that amount.

I use chicken stock in a lot of recipes including macaroni cheese it makes all the difference.

Yes to cinnamon! I only discovered this recently when my mum made an amazing sauce and that was the missing link. Also I use vegetable stock in ours. And a little sugar. I don't cook with salt as 10mo DD shares our meals, so I use low-salt stock, no added salt, etc. Tbh after the first week or so I don't really notice it. If something really needs salt, I'll either portion some off and add it or add it after, but most stuff I find doesn't need it.

How much cinnamon are we talking?

Next up - how to toast bread...

PS Passata is far superior in every way to chopped tomatoes. Try passata next time.

I use fresh tomatoes, vine ripened for best flavour, and add a squeeze of crema di balsamica.

Alright Babs of Seville no need to be snippy

At 11.27 you said the sauce was amazing.
At 12.28 you said you added sugar but it was still sour.

What went wrong OP?

I was craving a non tomato-based pasta dish at the weekend, and experimented with kitchen staples and freezer content. The whole family wolfed it down, it was yummy (if I may say so myself).

Recipe: fry onion and garlic, add minced pork and beef, remove extra fat, add sour cream, cream cheese, splash of soy sauce and fish sauce (that was a surprise to me too, but totally lifted the dish), oregano, parsley. Mix with pasta, add some Parmesan if you feel like it. Bung in the oven for 15 minutes.

I very nearly chucked some cinnamon in a tomato based sauce yesterday, will definitely try it now!

@LaurieFairyCake that's what I do, but also chuck in whole garlic cloves (peeled) and mush them up with the back of the spoon after about an hour. Practically effortless! A bit of oregano and chilli works, too, but I don't want to overcomplicate it!

@userxx

I meant it had soured metaphorically due to the metaphorical basting that I was taking from some culinarily skilled posters.

@magicstar1

I meant it had soured metaphorically due to the metaphorical basting that I was taking from some culinarily skilled posters.

Sorry @userxx

magicstar
I think OP meant sour comments rather than sauce.
I agree. AIBU or not there are some smug sods on this thread.