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We all love a good pasta. It's one of those easy dinners that will please everyone. It's filling, pretty quick and so very versatile, not to mention budget friendly – which we can all use. But we don't always have time to make everything from scratch and it's a rare person who does not have a go-to jar of pasta sauce in the pantry at all times.
I always have tins of tomato, passata and general pasta sauces on hand for those last minute dinners. But there are also a couple of tricks I like to use to jazz those bottles and jars up. Because while they are great just as they are, there are also some very simple tricks and tips that can take them next-level. And you can do them while the pasta boils. Here are some of my favourite tricks, try one or use a few to really add the wow factor.
For more cooking tips and tricks, find Jane here.
Here are Jane's tricks to take store-bought pasta sauce next level:
This trick not only lets you add some extra flavour to a sauce, it also sneaks in some extra serves of veg for the family and is a great way to rescue any veggies that might otherwise wilt away unloved in the fridge.
Just dice up some onion or garlic, carrot, zucchini or sweet potato and gently fry it down for a few minutes in some olive oil until it's juicy and sweet. Then add in your sauce and simmer away while the pasta boils.
I'm a huge fan of adding some fresh herbs right at the end of cooking to elevate the flavour of a sauce. Parsley and basil are obvious choices, but a spritz of lemon or some lemon rind is good too.
If you're feeling fancy, you can make a gremolata by shredding some parsley and mixing it with good extra virgin olive oil, some lemon zest, a big pinch of salt and some lemon juice to make a thick sauce or paste and then dotting it over the top of the pasta sauce when served. It's a great alternative to cheese and adds freshness and punch.
If you don't have any fresh herbs on hand, don't stress. Adding some spices from the pantry while you're cooking is a great way to change things up too. A pinch of chilli flakes or a dash of cinnamon can give heat and depth to the sauce. Or toasting some fennel seeds in a hot pan before adding the sauce in to simmer is great too. Take a look in the pantry and be brave with some spices.
You might even toss some olive into the sauce to simmer too for extra salt and another texture.
A trick I swear by when I only have one or two sausages but I need to feed the whole family, is to take the meat out of the casing and make some tiny meatballs or to just fry off little pieces of sausage and then add the sauce to the pan. A little bit of meat will add a LOT of flavour, so you don't need much to make this trick work. It's the same if you use a little bit of pancetta or bacon or any kind of meat you like – leftover BBQ chicken is great too – the flavour will go right through the sauce even if there's not much in there to begin with. Just fry it off a little first to get the juices in the pan and get the flavour right through the sauce.
If you want to really shake the flavour of the sauce up, give it some depth with a splash of wine (red is good, but white works too) or use a dash of balsamic or red wine vinegar for some extra acidity. The alcohol will cook off while the sauce simmers, or the vinegar will mellow as it cooks through with the other flavours. Just start with a little though. You can always add more, but you can't take it out again. It's a really easy way to add a new dimension to a jar of sauce as it simmers.
This is the oldest trick in the book. Once the pasta is plated and served, just finish it with a little drizzle of really good olive oil. A fresh and green tasting oil will heighten the dish and give it freshness while complimenting the sauce. This works best on vegetable or tomato based sauces. It looks beautiful and – as long as the oil is good – tastes sensational. It's even more fun if you have an infused oil like chilli or garlic… not to mention truffle if you're feeling really fancy.
If you want the flavours in a sauce to really infuse and get nice and deep – rather than just tasting like tangy tomato – then you need to simmer it lower and slower for a little bit longer. The more you reduce the sauce, the more intense the flavours will become. So don't be afraid to simmer it longer than the jar suggests for a deeper flavour.
Or you can stir the sauce through the cooked pasta, layer it into a baking dish with some cheese, top it with cheese and breadcrumbs and bake it to make those flavours even more intense again. It's also a great way to make a pasta ahead and then just heat it up when you need it.
If you're looking for something truly comforting and rich, then you can always enrich your sauce with extra butter, cream or cheese. A dab of butter stirred through a cheese sauce will make it extra decadent, but some cheese or cream stirred through a tomato based sauce will make it velvety and rich. It will help the sauce cling to the pasta too. Just keep a little of the pasta cooking water and stir it in with the cheese to help melt it through. To keep it creamy and avoid any splitting it's best to add these things right at the end and stir them through the warm sauce just before serving.
See Jane's tips and tricks for creating that perfect pasta dish in the segment above
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