My Pasta Sauce Experiment Begins
Okay folks, wanted pasta tonight but the jarred stuff just wasn’t cutting it. Decided to wing a quick sauce using stuff I always seem to have hanging around. Grabbed my trusty skillet and turned the burner to medium.
First, poured in a good glug of olive oil – maybe two tablespoons? Not measuring kinda eyeballed it. While that warmed up, finely chopped a small onion. Didn’t need anything fancy. Got a couple of garlic cloves too, smashed ’em and roughly chopped. Threw the onion into the oil first, let it cook down for like five minutes, stirring now and then until it got kinda soft and see-through.
Next, added the garlic. You gotta be careful here! Burnt garlic tastes awful. Stirred it constantly for maybe just one minute, maybe less, till it smelled amazing. Seriously, that garlic-onion smell is everything.
Throwing In The Basics
Now for the juicy part. Dumped in one whole big can of crushed tomatoes. The kind I had in the pantry. Gave the can a good swirl with maybe 1/4 cup of water to get the rest of the tomato goodness out, poured that in too. Heard that satisfying sizzle. Sprinkled in my flavor boosters:
- A big pinch of dried oregano – maybe two teaspoons?
- A smaller pinch of dried basil – one teaspoon?
- Half a teaspoon of dried red pepper flakes – wanted a little kick.
- A good sprinkle of salt – started with half a teaspoon.
- A few grinds of black pepper.
Gave everything a big stir to mix it all up.
The Simmer & Taste Test
Let the sauce start bubbling gently, then turned the heat down real low. Covered the skillet with a lid cracked open just a little. Let it just simmer away quietly, maybe bubbled a tiny bit. Needed patience! Left it alone for like 15 minutes, just popped back to stir it once.
After 15 minutes, grabbed a spoon, dipped it in CAREFULLY (that stuff’s hot!), and gave it a taste. Hmm… needed something. Added another pinch of salt. Still felt a bit flat. Thought quick – pulled out my secret weapon: a tiny splash of balsamic vinegar. Not much, maybe half a teaspoon? Stirred it in. Big difference! Just brightened it right up. Checked if it needed sugar – nope, tomatoes were sweet enough today. Let it simmer another 5 minutes uncovered to thicken up just a touch.
Final Touches & Serving
Turned the heat off. Felt fancy. Ripped up a few fresh basil leaves I had on the windowsill (dried works fine, but fresh is magic), stirred them through the hot sauce. Drained my pasta – used spaghetti this time – saved a cup of that starchy water just in case.
Tossed the pasta right into the skillet with the sauce, added a small splash of the pasta water to loosen it. Mixed everything together really well, coating every strand. Plated it up, maybe added a tiny dusting of that pre-grated parmesan cheese from the green can because sometimes basic is okay. Boom. Dinner was ready, tasted way better than any jar, and honestly? Took barely any effort. Used common stuff. Win.