Recipes

[eddyandme]

Any suggestions on how to spiff-up a jarred pasta sauce?

I've thought of adding some ricotta along with hamburg/pork.  Any ideas would be appreciated.

TIA

[Desertdi]

I add sliced fresh mushrooms and zucchini at the final end of simmering

[eddyandme]

@Desertdi , mushrooms - love them but always forget them.  Thanks, sounds yummy.  Haven't seen zuchinni around here yet, but certainly will add some mushrooms!

[deepwaterdotter]

We like mushrooms and peppers added to a jar of Victoria marinara sauce.

[Mz iMac]

@ciao_bella   I know you can advise the OP. 

[retiredatlast]

I keep 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes in my pantry at all times.  My go to quick and easy pasta sauce is to saute diced onions, peppers and garlic in olive oil along with some crushed red pepper flakes, oregano, dried basil, and black pepper. I don't add extra salt.  Then I add the tomatoes and simmer for about an hour.  It saves money from buying the jarred sauces and I can control the amount of extra ingredients.  Of course, I do keep a jar of ready made sauce for quick emergencies.  And if I use it, I do the same thing with the onion, peppers, garlic in olive oil, but I add less spices.  And only simmer it for about 15 minutes.

[matty liz]

 put a pinch of sugar, parmesian cheese and some italian season in mine

[ciao_bella]

@eddyandme  To add subtle extra touches to jarred sauce, add some good quality olive oil and fresh basil with a pinch of red pepper flakes.    To that, if you want to get more involved with extra add-in's, I love a handful of chopped olives that you can simmer in the sauce.  

If you want to add meat, as you had indicated, I would add some olive oil to a fry pan, then mince a few garlic cloves and a small minced onion or shallot and sweat/saute for a little bit until softend, then add your ground beef or beef/pork with some fresh or dried herbs.   I also like pancetta diced and browned in the sauce.  Like others mention, sliced sauted mushrooms or zucchini are good choices that hold up well.  

You mentioned ricotta.  I would not add the ricotta directly to the sauce as the sauce will not look appetizing, sort of 'grainy looking', though will taste okay.  Instead, I would add a splash or two or a litte more of heavy cream to the sauce at the very end.  This will give your sauce a rich  'creamy less acidic sauce' much like a vodka sauce without the vodka.  

Hope I was of some help to you.  

[River Song]

If the sauce is plain, I add garlic, Italian seasoning herbs, sautéed onions, green pepper and olives.  Plus, a splash of red wine if I have an open bottle in the fridge.  For meat, I've added cooked ground beef or diced Italian sausage.

To change things up, I've also added sour cream to the pasta sauce, off the heat so it doesn't curdle, for a velvety, creamy tomato sauce.

[eddyandme]

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@River Song wrote:

If the sauce is plain, I add garlic, Italian seasoning herbs, sautéed onions, green pepper and olives.  Plus, a splash of red wine if I have an open bottle in the fridge.  For meat, I've added cooked ground beef or diced Italian sausage.

To change things up, I've also added sour cream to the pasta sauce, off the heat so it doesn't curdle, for a velvety, creamy tomato sauce.

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I love sour cream!!!!  Never thought of adding it to sauce - gonna try it!