Best pasta sauce ever

[Alex W.]

I was bored when I went food shopping on Tuesday so after consulting various labels and buying things which looked nice I found myself with the following:

Creme fraiche

Bertolli tomato and basil sauce

A garlic/mixed pepper grinder

Artichoke antipasto

I defrosted some smoky bacon tonight, cut it into pieces and fried it. I then heated through some of the sauce with a dollop of creme fraiche (just enough to make it look red-orange) and threw in the bacon and a few pieces of artichoke. Then I served on pasta with loads of the garlic and pepper grinder stuff on top.

OMG. It's possibly the best-tasting thing I have ever cooked. I never realised I could actually construct food this well.

[Das]

You ever had Chilli Prawn Linguini?

[thingymajig]

Woot!

No more Pot Noodles then.

[Steven]

butter

add crushed walnuts-brown lightly

splash of white wine

lump of gorgonzola

double cream

thicken

add rigatone/penne

[Boyatsea]

Bertolli tomato and basil sauce

Rocks.

But the Roasted Vegetable one is better.

It's a tie between Bertolli, Lloyd Grossman's Tomato & Basil, and a random brand cheap plain old tomato one from Lidl, which is fricking gorgeous for spag bol.

[Dude Ranch]

Artichoke antipasto

Delicious.

Your recipe sounds nice.

[meatbin]

With your usual tomato pasta sauce, try adding 2-3 chopped garlic cloves when you normally would (frying stage), then add 1 more with the skin in whole piece while simmering. Leave for as long as possible and this will enhance it by far.

Also, secret instant good flavouring for a bolognaise is Bisto granuals - this will make a rich meaty taste, and cocoa - adds instant depth when left to simmer.

Remember the fresh basil, and lots of!

All tips applyu to both pasta sauce and chilli con carne

[Davros sock drawer]

butter

add crushed walnuts-brown lightly

splash of white wine

lump of gorgonzola

double cream

thicken

add rigatone/penne

Winnar!

I'm having that asap. Some parsley and a squeeze of lemon might be good too.

[Mr Hatfield]

A tin of anchovies

a whole tin is insanity

use 2-3 at the most

[Steven]

Winnar!

I'm having that asap. Some parsley and a squeeze of lemon might be good too.

A touch of parsley, if you love the stuff - but I'm not sure about the lemon with this one.

Let us know if you give it a bash that way, though.

[Poppalarge]

My absolute favourite stolen shamelssly from Claudia Rosen but with the patented Blunkett "handfuls" rather than Delia Smith-esque exact measurements.

This is simple but makes the best pasta sauce in the world ever - great with Spaghetti or in fact anything pasta-wise.

You need :

Handful of capers squeezed to get the water out

Couple of handfuls of the best stoned olives you can get

A good bunch of fresh parsley chopped up

A tin of anchovies (again the better quality you can get then um so much the better)

4 cloves of garlic crushed (less if you want - but I'd stick at least 2 in there)

1 whole red chilli chopped finely (or a teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper if you haven't got a chilli)

A tin of chopped tomatoes

Couple of stalks fresh oregano chopped (you can use dry but as always fresh herbs are in a different league)

Method :

Whack in a good gloop of decent olive oil

Add the garlic - as soon as the aroma rises throw in your olives, capers, chilli and oregano.

Stir in the oil for a moment or two then add the tomatoes.

Simmer for 10 minutes and a minute before serving stir in the anchovies (chopped up) and the parsley.

I urge, no implore you to try this. Its scrummy and is so much better than any of this bought nonsense.

surely dried Oregano is better than fresh, but yeah I love Putanesca sauce, I find its better if you replace the tinned tomatoes with cherry tomatoes.

But here's the genius bit, Get your cherry toms and squeeze each one with your fingers until the seeds and whatnot from the middle pop out and throw in the "empty" tomaotes.

lovely,

And here's another genius bit you can make this sauce and roast some new potatoes in the oven, combine the lot and stick in the oven again for 20 mins.