Does no one use Prego or Ragu anymore?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cover a baking sheet with foil, spread olive oil and coat the foil. Cover the sheet with quartered red peppers, a head of garlic and halved tomatoes. Bake until soft. Put the veggies in a blender and pureed adding chopped or chiffonade of basil and oregano at the end. If you want, you can reheat the puree over the stove or in the microwave briefly, pour over pasta.

I make this as a soup, but many people have commented that it would go wonderfully over ravioli and in your case, shells.

This sounds really good. How many peppers and tomatoes do you use?

It varies, but this is a good starter. You'll have to decide what flavors you like more and add more of them. Ballpark, 3-4 medium to large red peppers to one full head of garlic to about 4-6 medium to large tomatoes. when I can get them, the medium size Campari tomatoes are the best (6 of those work wonderfully). Add about a small handful of basil and about 5-6 stalks of oregano, pulling the leaves off the stalks. That's ballpark what I use. But it varies every time.

FYI, when I said 3-4 medium to large, the bigger they are, the more likely you use 3, the smaller they are, the more likely you use 4.

Anonymous wrote:

Mine's on the stove. I make meatballs from pork/beef/veal, fry them up with a couple cut up hot sausages then run 5 cans of whole peeled tomatoes through the food processor. I add a whole onion, a half cup of wine, a bay leaf, salt & pepper, a little of the oil and garlic from frying the meatballs a pinch of sugar. Bring it to a boil and let it cook for a couple of hours. Add a little fresh basil at the end. Portion it out, wait for it to cool and freeze.

This is more or less the recipe from my italian grandmother and enough for 5 or 6 meals.

It's messy but so worth it on a weeknight.

That's pretty much how I do mine too. I'm not Italian and neither is my grandmother. I learned it from Clemenza in The Godfather.

I don't always do the meatballs, though. Sometimes I just brown some ground beef, mushrooms, and chopped shallot--fry them separately, then combine with a crumbled slice of bread and a little milk. Sounds weird and I don't know the provenance. I got it from a Cooks Illustrated recipe for weeknight Bolognese, and it works pretty well.

LOL! I learned how to make my sauce from Clemenza as well!!

Mine's on the stove. I make meatballs from pork/beef/veal, fry them up with a couple cut up hot sausages then run 5 cans of whole peeled tomatoes through the food processor. I add a whole onion, a half cup of wine, a bay leaf, salt & pepper, a little of the oil and garlic from frying the meatballs a pinch of sugar. Bring it to a boil and let it cook for a couple of hours. Add a little fresh basil at the end. Portion it out, wait for it to cool and freeze.

This is more or less the recipe from my italian grandmother and enough for 5 or 6 meals.

It's messy but so worth it on a weeknight.

That's pretty much how I do mine too. I'm not Italian and neither is my grandmother. I learned it from Clemenza in The Godfather.

I don't always do the meatballs, though. Sometimes I just brown some ground beef, mushrooms, and chopped shallot--fry them separately, then combine with a crumbled slice of bread and a little milk. Sounds weird and I don't know the provenance. I got it from a Cooks Illustrated recipe for weeknight Bolognese, and it works pretty well.

I love Raos but it's a little harder to find so I use trader joes organic vodka sauce which is very very good and close to Raos in flavor but much less expensive
I swear I can pour Raos over bagged frozen ravioli (the cheap stuff) and it tastes just as good as any fine Italian restaurant. So the entire meal with salad and garlic bread is very cheap even with an expensive sauce

Classico, Barilla, Newmans. I think they are as good as Rao's if you doctor and simmer them. Much cheaper than Rao's, which I think is very good but also a ripoff.

Anonymous wrote:Will you do a jarred sauce? Rao's Marinara is expensive but great. I also like Vittorio's, which is less expensive but really good.

Rao's is absolutely the gold standard for jarred sauce. I barely ever make my own anymore. I definitely use it for stuffed shells or even just store-bought pasta. Expensive but worth it if you can afford it.

Thanks for all the great ideas!!

I like Classico (Tomato and Basil)

I also like Newman's marinara sauce for a base, then I add to it. If you add cooked ground beef, spices, and parmesan cheese it makes a pretty good meat sauce.

I also like Whole Foods brand sauce, although I don't live near one anymore so haven't had it in a while.

For jarred sauce, I like Classico the best, although I doctor it.

Barilla Marinara. Made lasagna with it for a party last week and everybody raved abut it!

Mine's on the stove. I make meatballs from pork/beef/veal, fry them up with a couple cut up hot sausages then run 5 cans of whole peeled tomatoes through the food processor. I add a whole onion, a half cup of wine, a bay leaf, salt & pepper, a little of the oil and garlic from frying the meatballs a pinch of sugar. Bring it to a boil and let it cook for a couple of hours. Add a little fresh basil at the end. Portion it out, wait for it to cool and freeze.

This is more or less the recipe from my italian grandmother and enough for 5 or 6 meals.

It's messy but so worth it on a weeknight.

Safeway brand red sauces aren't half bad, and when they're on sale you can get them for about $1.50 a jar.

Anonymous wrote:Cover a baking sheet with foil, spread olive oil and coat the foil. Cover the sheet with quartered red peppers, a head of garlic and halved tomatoes. Bake until soft. Put the veggies in a blender and pureed adding chopped or chiffonade of basil and oregano at the end. If you want, you can reheat the puree over the stove or in the microwave briefly, pour over pasta.

I make this as a soup, but many people have commented that it would go wonderfully over ravioli and in your case, shells.

This sounds really good. How many peppers and tomatoes do you use?

Wegmans Grandma Pomodoro Sauce