All that talking and typing about ravioli this week made me hungry for pasta that I can cook myself at home; something fast and easy and satisfying.
Fortunately, bottled pasta sauce is one of the best convenience foods in the marketplace today. I’ve found dozens that are good enough to serve to guests.
Last night, I cooked up some fedelini (very fine spaghetti), heated up a jar of Trader Joe’s Organic Basil Marinara and topped the saucy tangle of noodles with huge Mexican white shrimp that I marinated in olive oil and garlic and sautéed in a pan. The whole thing took less than 10 minutes. And the comfort-food-quotient of the dish, after a particularly exhausting day, was off the charts.
Granted, this is the time of year when we should all be chopping up tomatoes from the farmers market, tossing them with fresh basil, pepper and a really good salt (such as Maldon, Anglesey or Murray River Pink) and dumping the whole lot into a just-drained pot of pasta with some extra virgin olive oil.
And granted, it’s real easy to sauté some chopped garlic in olive oil, plop in a can of San Marzano crushed tomatoes, throw in some fresh basil and simmer for 10 minutes. But on days when even that much effort is too much, you’ll be glad to have a couple of bottled sauces in the cupboard.
Here are some of my favorites. You can jazz them up with browned ground beef, sausage or mushrooms. But, honestly, they’re good enough to eat just as they are. (They're also pretty pricey; most cost about $9 for a 23-ounce jar.)
LUCINI makes about 10 types of tomato sauces and all are delicious. All are pure and basic, too, with short ingredient lists that basically consist of tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, garlic and spices.
I particularly like the Sicilian Olive & Wild Caper with its pleasantly bumpy texture. The Rustic Tomato Basil is special, too. The Spicy Tuscan Tomato is REAL spicy (and I am NOT a crushed red pepper wuss).
A sneak favorite of mine, not widely available in markets, is Vino de Milo Pasta Sauce. The gimmick is that each sauce is made with a different type of wine. Tuscan Merlot contains fire-roasted zucchini and eggplant along with the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, Merlot and fresh herbs. Portobello Shiraz has roasted mushrooms and Shiraz. Roasted Garlic Chianti has, well, you get the picture.
All the flavors are robust, the textures are appealing. There are no added sugars, additives, etc. It's available on-line and at specialty stores across the country, including Central Markets in Texas; Draeger's in Northern California; Barons Marketplace in Southern California; and Sam's Wines & Spirits in Chicago.
MOM’S is a division of Fischer & Wieser, the Texas company that makes the irresistible
Roasted Raspberry
Chipotle Sauce. Mom's sauces are supposed to taste like Mom made them...and I think they're pretty darn believable.
Mom’s Puttanesca Sauce packs a savory punch thanks to the black olives and capers and a lovely richness thanks to the butter, cream and extra virgin olive oil. The ingredient list is short and sweet. The line’s Organic Roasted Red Pepper Sauce also offers hearty flavor and a substantial texture that clings well to pasta. 
RAO’S pasta sauce is part of the empire that includes the famed Rao’s restaurant in New York’s East Harlem neighborhood. The Homemade Arrabbiata is a sassy number with plenty of crushed red pepper. If you’re not a fire-eater, stick to the Roasted Eggplant Sicilian Sauce that combines good fresh tomato flavor with creamy chunks of eggplant.
Though SAN MARZANO is the buzzword among foodies when it comes to canned tomatoes, San Marzano's Marinara Sauce doesn’t wow me. It has a nice, bright tomato flavor, but not much in the way of seasoning; and the texture is very “pureed.” However, because of its simplicity, it's a good one to jazz up with meats or roasted vegetables. Contains some sugar, if that’s a big deal to you.
L'ORTOLANO is a line of sauces made near Sacramento from local tomatoes and vegetables, California wines and fresh herbs. According to the Web site, this is "food for the heart and the soul." That seems to translate into the lowest fat content of all the sauces here.
I especially like the texture of the Artichoke Tomato Pasta Sauce. It's bumpy with bits of artichoke and garlic that tastes like it was just chopped and thrown in. The line also includes Tomato Zinfandel and Wild Mushroom Cabernet.
RUSTICHELLA d' ABRUZZO is an impressive line of imported pastas and sauces distributed by Manicaretti. It doesn't get much simpler or more delicious than Rustichella's Arrabbiata Sauce made with just tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, peppers, garlic, onion and salt. I also like the Puttanesca that uses a bit of tuna fish and anchovy pasta to give the sauce both body and bold flavor. These sauces are the most expensive; a 10-ounce jar can cost about $12.
So I’ll tell it on the mountaintops,
In all places high and low,
That love for you is my reason to be,
And will never break or bow.
Posted by: John Redford | July 21, 2008 at 01:59 PM