Pasta Sauce

Pasta Sauce is a specific and delicious sauce variety, which is generally teamed with pastas and garlic bread. Sometimes this sauce is used as a base for cooking pasta based dishes or other similar dishes. Onion, mushroom, garlic, and tomatoes are the main ingredients used in most of the pasta sauce variants. Parmesan cheese or similar cheeses are added to some of the sauce variants to enrich their flavors. 

Popular Pasta Sauce Recipes

• Sugo all'amatriciana – This is one of the most popular and traditional Italian pasta sauce prepared using ingredients like pecorino cheese, guanciale, and tomato. The sauce derives its name from town of Amatrice (Lazio Region in Italy)and it is protected under Prodotto Agroalimentare tradizionale ( Many food ingredients or food products are protected by the Government of Italy under this tag). There are several recipes for making amatriciana, but guanciale, onion and tomato are common to all these variations. Usually olive oil is used for frying ingredients, but sometimes stutto or pork lard is also used. Generally, garlic is not used in the preparation of this sauce, but some chefs add it for enriching the flavor. The garlic is fried, added to the sauce mixture before adding the gunaciale. Pecorino or pecorino from region of Amatrice is also used in the preparation of this dish. This sauce is usually served after seasoning with chili pepper or black pepper.

• Arrabiata Pasta Sauce – This is a very popular Roman sauce prepared using red chili, garlic, and tomatoes. These ingredients are cooked in olive oil. In some recipes the basil is added for an extra flavor. Many Italian cooks don’t like the taste of basil and usually discard it. The dish is teamed with pasta and freshly chopped parsley is used for garnishing the dish.  The word All’arabbiata means "angry style", which refers to the hotness of the chilies used in the sauce preparation.

• Boat Sicilian Pasta Sauce – This is a very popular Pasta sauce from the Italian town of Palermo, in Sicily. This is a base sauce which is either served as a dip or used as a flavoring ingredient in many vegetable based dishes. It is usually added to asparagus or while preparing the drained or fried ground beef for dishes like pasta Bolognese. Fresh onions, olive oil, tomato sauce, salt, and pepper are used in the preparation of this dish.

• Bolognese Pasta Sauce – This sauce differs from other  regular Italian sauces purely by the choice of its combining ingredients. This meat based sauce is often confused as a tomato sauce. This sauce is believed to have originated in 5^th century. As per the records of Italian Academy of Cuisine the sauce is prepared using ingredients like beef, dried pancetta, carrot, celery, onion, tomato sauce, whole milk, dry white wine, and salt –pepper .Garlic and herbs are not generally used in the preparation of sauce, but some modern chefs impinge on using them both.

• Butter Pasta Sauce – This butter based sauce used for teaming pasta based dishes is prepared using butter. The flavor of the sauce is usually adjusted as per the taste preference of the eaters or the cook. The sauce is prepared using garlic, butter, lemon zest, and lemon juice and is usually used for tossing the pasta dish . This sauce is best to be teamed with vegetables, chicken or with poppy seeds.

• Gorgonzola Pasta Sauce – This is a gourmet sauce prepared using Gorgonzolas blue cheese. The flavors of cooked tortellini are enriched by the addition of this sauce. Ingredients like Gorgonzola cheese, dry tortellini, cream, grated Parmesan cheese, ground black pepper, chopped parsley and salt are required for making the sauce. 

• Butter Herbal Sauce – A healthy variant of sauce especially used for teaming the pasta dishes. It is enriched with goodness of herbs like chives, tarragon leaves and Italian parsley leaves. Other ingredients used in the sauce preparation are butter, onion, ground black pepper, and lemon zest. The sauce is teamed with pasta or tossed with pasta depending on the taste preferences of eaters.

• Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi – This name translates to four cheese sauce. The pasta ai Quattro fromaggi is milk based sauce and is used as a base for making some pasta dishes. It is prepared using ingredients like Gorgonzola, Grana Padano, Fontal and Italica cheeses. Other than cheeses and pasta, ingredients like milk, nutmeg, white pepper and short shaped pastas like farfelle are required for making this sauce. Mozzarella, gruyere and Edam are some of the other cheeses considered while preparing the sauce.

•  Prego Sauce – This is a traditional sauce for pastas commercialized by Campbell Soup Company. The sauces are available in 19 flavors including mini meatball, traditional, marinara, roasted garlic, zesty mushroom, and Parmesan. Prego sauce is also available in two organic flavors :Organic Tomato basil and Organic Mushroom. The organic sauce variant is prepared using all organic ingredients.

• Tuscan Pasta Sauce – This sauce for pasta originated in Tuscany region in Italy. It is prepared using ingredients like vegetable oil, red onion, shallots, garlic cloves, white wine, diced tomatoes, cream, Kalamata olives, capers, and salt – pepper. 

• Nonna’s Sauce – This meat based sauce is mostly served over a bed of pasta. It is prepared using ingredients like chicken bones (thighs), Italian sausages, extra virgin olive oil, carrot, garlic cloves, bay leaf, dry white wine, crushed tomatoes, salt – pepper, and is seasoned with cloves, parsley and basil. The sauce is prepared by boiling the combining ingredients for about 2-3 hours at a stretch.