Learn Homemade Pasta Sauce Recipes For Everyday Cooking

Do you think you need a pasta sauce recipe to make a great pasta dinner tonight? I promise you that if you learn three of the most commonly used (and so called) culinary mother sauces, you will be creating all kinds of dishes with a never-ending variety of options. You might even find a new favorite pasta sauce recipe to claim as your "signature." Even if you just want to get some great new ideas for everyday dinners, these three sauces provide endless opportunity.

Become a Master of the Marinara Sauce Recipe

Tomato Sauce is one of the five "Mother Sauces" in French culinary and the starting point for any marinara sauce recipe. There are two parts to this sauce that are made separately with their own procedure and then come together at the end: tomato concasse and a sauce "base". The sauce base can be meat, vegetables, broth, seafood - whatever you will be using to make YOUR marinara sauce recipe. Tomato concasse sounds fancy, but it simply means a mixture of tomatoes coarsely chopped. But - there is a trick to getting this mixture sans seeds and skins. Here's my quick technique for blanching tomatoes, which is the first step in making tomato sauce:

1. Core tomatoes on one end and score an "x" on the other side with a knife. This will be where the skin peels away during boiling.


2. Place tomatoes in a pot of boiling water.


3. When the skin at the "x" has peeled back, it is time to remove the tomato and shock it in an ice water bath to stop the cooking. This will vary by tomato due to size and ripeness.


4. Peel and seed the tomatoes. Peeling should be very easy. If it's not, the tomato didn't stay in the boiling water long enough.

Depending how you'd like your marinara sauce recipe to end up, you can puree the tomato concasse or keep it chunky.

Now, onto the sauce base. For a simple marinara sauce recipe, you will probably keep this vegetarian, adding vegetables if you prefer a chunky sauce or vegetable broth if you prefer a smoother sauce:

1. Saute chopped onions and garlic in a hot pan with a small amount of olive oil.


2. Add your tomato concasse (or puree). This is also where you'd add any other vegetables, like mushrooms or peppers, to your tomato sauce.


3. Add vegetable broth and reduce to almost dry.


4. Add tomato paste to thicken and color - heat through.


5. Add the seasonings of your choice. Basil and oregano are the common ones, but experiment to find what you like.

You've now got a great homemade pasta sauce recipe that you can make almost any night of the week. My guess is that this process would take you about 30-45 minutes to prepare. During this time, your pasta is cooking and your meal is ready in under an hour!

Make any White Sauce Recipe with One Procedure

When you think of a white sauce recipe, most often what you are imagining has its roots in the French mother sauce, bechamel. Bechamel forms the foundation for every white sauce recipe - including the favorite fettuccine Alfredo or even the classic macaroni and cheese. The key to making this velvety white sauce smooth is knowing how much milk to add. This is something that is best determined with your eyes - not a recipe!

You start by melting butter on the stove and then removing it from the heat. As you add some flour - a little at a time - you will be watching for the mixture to thicken up to the consistency of wall paper paste. When it does, you've got roux and it is time to return to the heat. Your goal here is to cook the proteins out of the flour. You will know this has happened when the majority of the roux has turned from yellow to white. During the process, you will smell a toasty smell as the proteins cook out. Now you can start adding milk. This is the most important step in making this sauce so take your time here. You will continue to add milk - a little at a time - until the sauce stops thickening. So here's the process:

1. Add some milk and stir.


2. Stop stirring and observe.


3. If sauce starts thickening back up over the heat, add more milk.


4. Continue steps 1-3 until the sauce doesn't thicken back up (in step 3).

I like a garlic flavor to my white sauce recipe so here's a trick for adding garlic, but not adding the lumps of chopped garlic. I simmer whole garlic cloves in the sauce for a bit and then remove them before serving. This will infuse a nice garlic flavor into my white sauce recipe. Finally, if you are making an Alfredo (or macaroni and cheese), this is where you would add your favorite cheese(s), stirring over heat as they melt.

A Buttery Garlic Sauce Recipe in Less then 30 Minutes

I saved my favorite garlic sauce recipe for last for a couple of reasons. First, it is a great sauce because you can make it rather quickly, using ingredients you most likely have on hand. However, this homemade pasta sauce recipe can be a little bit trickier than the first two, which makes some shy away from it. But, don't worry. With a few tips, you'll be making this one like a pro tonight!

Again, we start with one of the French culinary mother sauces - this time: beurre blanc, a saute of shallot (with garlic) and any liquid and mounted with cold butter. The trick to this sauce is to always keep the butter yellow. If your butter stays yellow, it means that the sauce has not broken. Here is my best tip for keeping the butter yellow in your garlic sauce recipe. This is one time, we don't start with a hot pan (as we normally would in saute method). The cold pan and cold butter hit the heat together. To melt the butter, without burning it:

1. Melt a little bit of butter.


2. Remove from hit and swirl around to melt more butter.


3. Return to heat for a couple of seconds to get the butter hot again.


4. Remove from heat and swirl around to melt more butter.


5. Repeat steps 1-3 until all the butter is melted.

When the butter is melted, you add your shallot and garlic and saute, but you don't want to brown anything here. Controlling the heat (so as not to separate the butter) is the most important secret for success when making this sauce. Keep the butter yellow - can't stress that enough! Once the shallots and garlic have cooked to become translucent in color, add a cold liquid (usually white wine) and then cold butter, cut in consistent squares. If the pan starts to get too hot (as evidenced by white specs floating to the top of the butter), you will remove it from heat and add more cold butter to cool the sauce quickly. You can always heat it back up again when you cool it - but you can't fix it once it has actually broken. When you are satisfied with the consistency and flavor of the garlic sauce recipe you've created, add salt and white pepper to taste and serve on your favorite pasta.

With a little practice, you will become very good at whipping up a great pasta sauce recipe every night based on what you have on hand in your house. For everyday cooking, a great sauce paired with pasta makes for a great and complete meal. With these techniques and your creativity, there is no stopping the great cook in you from emerging!

8 Rules For Making the Best Homemade Pickles

There are two types of pickle families, those made by using the quick process method and those made during the brine curing method. Most people now use the quick process method to save on time. Using the quick process method, you cook the fruit or vegetable in vinegar and spices to preserve it.

When using the brine curing type method, you keep and hold the fruit or vegetables in a brine for about a month. The next step is to soak them in cold water to remove any excess salt. After the excess salt is removed, you add vinegar, sugar and spices to make pickles. This can be a lengthy process, but people who use this method swear by it. It usually makes crisper pickles than the quick processing method, although many quick processed pickles are delicious.

No matter which type of pickles you decide to make, there are a few rules you should follow for success. You should keep them in mind when making homemade pickles.

1. Use fresh fruits and vegetables as soon as possible after picking them. Store them in the refrigerator if you can't make pickles with an hour or two after picking them. Don't wash them before placing in the refrigerator.

2. Use fruits and vegetables that are free of any bruises or blemishes. If the have to cut out blemishes, cut deeply to make certain all damaged flesh is removed.

3. Thoroughly wash all fruits and vegetables to remove any dirt which may cause spoilage. If you are using cucumbers to make your pickles, be sure to remove the blossom end as well. It has an enzyme in it which may also cause your pickles to spoil.

4. Use a vinegar of at least 5% acidity. Check the label for acid content. You can use either white vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Homemade vinegar isn't recommended as one can't be sure of acidity level. White vinegar makes for clearer pickles, but apple cider vinegar will lend more flavor to your pickles.

5. Use canning or pickling salt when making pickles. This is mandatory when using the brine curing method. You can use table salt in quick process pickles, but don't use table salt with iodine added. It may darken the pickles.

6. Use the freshest spices available for the best flavored pickles. Whole spices work well. Tie them in a cloth bag so they can be removed from the brine easily. If left in the brine when poured into jars, the spices will darken the pickles as they age.

7. Use white granulated sugar. Only use brown sugar if the recipe you are using calls for it.

8. Use fresh water. If you are using city water, or water that has been chemically treated, boil the water and let it cool completely before using it for pickle making.

There are all sorts of pickle recipes. You can find recipes for sweet pickles, dill pickles and even hot pickles. There may be recipes in your cookbook, but if not, the internet is a great resource for finding pickle recipes.

You can pickle many types of fruits and vegetables. Pickled cucumbers and cauliflower are some of the more common ones. Find a pickle recipe that you would like to try, and keeping these steps in mind, you will soon have your own delicious homemade pickles to enjoy.

Homemade Chocolate Truffles Recipe

Ingredients:

16 oz dark chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp liquor (optional) (if using, coffee liquor goes really well here)

Directions:

Break up the chocolate into small pieces.

Heat the cream just to the point of simmering. Watch it the whole time, since boiling cream can overflow the pot! Remove from heat right away once it starts to simmer.

Stir in the chocolate and liquor, and keep stirring until the chocolate has melted completely. Let cool, then put in the refrigerator.

Check the consistency of the truffle mixture after 5 hours in the refrigerator. You should be able to scoop it with a spoon and roll balls from it. If it's too soft (impossible to roll into balls), put it back in the refrigerator and check again after 1 hour.

Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Once the truffle mixture is the right consistency, use a spoon to put some of it on your hands, roll into balls and put the balls on the parchment paper.

Note: at this point, you can also roll the truffles in chocolate crumbs (to make chocolate crumbs, just grind an additional small chocolate bar in a food processor). This step is optional, I only do it when presentation is important, since the truffles in chocolate crumbs look more professionally done then plain truffles :)

Put the baking sheet with truffles in the freezer for at least 1 hour. After you remove them from the freezer, take the truffles off the parchment paper and put on a plate. Store the truffles in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

This is an easy recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce with meatballs. While the cooking time is long, this can be mostly unsupervised, just give it an occasional stir. If you desire, you can use the crock pot or the pressure cooker for this recipe, those instructions are included at the end.

You can add other herbs to suit your liking. I've known cooks to add parsley, bay leaves, oregano, marjoram, or take the easy way out and use 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning mix instead of the thyme. Experiment until you find the mix your family prefers.

Italian Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

3/4 pound ground beef

1/4 pound ground pork sausage meat

3/4 cup dry bread crumbs - I like Italian style seasoned

2 small eggs

1 clove garlic, or 1 teaspoon minced garlic, or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

12 ounces tomato paste

1 large can of tomatoes or 2 regular cans

1 cup water

1 medium onion, sliced

1 green pepper, diced

1 tablespoon sugar

1 4 ounce can mushrooms

1/2 teaspoon thyme or other herbs as desired

2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Mix the meats, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, garlic salt, and eggs. Form into meatballs the about 1-1 1/2 inches in diameter. Brown in the olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven (if cooking sauce on the stovetop).


2. When meatballs are brown, remove from the pan and add the onion and green pepper. Saute for a few minutes.


3. Return the meat balls to the pot and add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 hours on the stovetop stirring occasionally. You're going to want to cover this, tomato sauces tend to spit occasionally.

You can simmer on low in the crock pot all day until you are ready to serve, or you can also pressure cook this for 20 minutes at low pressure (5lbs.) When using either of these methods, follow the instructions completely until the cooking step. When using the crock pot, I reduce the water to about 1/2 cup or until the thickness you desire.