Don’t ever assume you have red sauce in the fridge or in the cupboard. Because one day you’ll be staring blankly at a colander full of ricotta and romano stuffed raviolis with nothing to cover them in. Like an asshole.
Opining and whining for the 1/3 bottle of Newman‘s marinara that you threw away only days ago because who the hell can do anything with a third jar of red sauce?
And then Guy Fieri will show up clutching half a bunned hotdog in one paw and the other half a hotdog in his mouth like a chewed-up cigar, belittling you that this is the very reason why you don’t have your own Food Network cooking show.
But then you say, “fuck it, I do what I want” and hurl the pasta raviolis into the deep-well cast-iron, already heated and lubed with Trader Giotto’s olive oil, while cat looks on with confused yet salivating eyes.
“Cat,” you say to her, “we shall go on to the end. We shall cook with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our pastas, whatever the cost may be.”
And then later when you and Maggie are watching the episode of Lost where Hurley jump-starts the VW bus and you guys are eating those lightly seared raviolis sprinkled with salt, pepper, and more cheese Alton Brown may very well show up with the local press and declare you a true culinary hero.
Actually, that looks like it would taste better than a jar of red sauce would have. #serendipity?
Yes, I believe so!
Also, I’m fairly surprised at how many people have voiced their disdain for red sauce. 🤔
People don’t like red sauce? Ever since I tried making my own tomato sauce, I can’t go back to the jarred stuff, but still I’m surprised at that response.
Is there an online recipe for your tomato sauce? Or is it your own formula?
Yep yep. We make this one a lot: https://smittenkitchen.com/2010/01/tomato-sauce-with-butter-and-onions/
It’s worth looking for the San Marzano tomatoes, they have more flavour, which is important with so few ingredients. The only thing I change about this recipe is to break up the tomatoes with an immersion blender before cooking (leave some chunks) instead of mashing them up during cooking, but that’s totally optional. Don’t get the ones that are already crushed/pureed, it doesn’t turn out right with those.
The other one we really like is this bolognese, but you would have to make a couple of substitutions: https://www.framedcooks.com/2011/11/weeknight-bolognese.html
I’m certain soy burger would work just fine. It calls for wine, which brings out the flavour of the tomatoes, but I have successfully substituted water and a dash of wine vinegar in a pinch. I’ve also heard grape juice and a dash of vinegar works.
You should have a look around the https://smittenkitchen.com archives actually, she makes a lot of vegetarian recipes and the ones I’ve tried have been quite good. ☺️
I’m totally raiding all of this site.
Look at this dude: https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/06/jim-laheys-potato-pizza/
That sounds delicious. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out she wasn’t referring to the guy from the Trailer Park Boys though.
Haha! My ears perked up when I first saw the name, too.
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