Lite Pasta Sauce???

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Looking for a recipe for a light herb sauce for Pasta, one that can take re-heating via the microwave. Any thoughts?

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Here’s one that you use cold, ie, you just pour it over the ready-to-eat pasta :

• 3 grams of freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon of brow suger
• a bit of freshly ground pepper
• 6 to 8 fresh basil leaves.
• 1 twig of oregon leaves. (remove the stick, put the stick on your window sill and let it dry, you can use that in another dish another day )
• 1 teaspoon of lime (preferred) or lemon jest.[/list]If you have a mortar and pestel, put all the above ingredients in it and squash it up until it is a nice paste. Then gradually add 250ml of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and mix in well

  If you don’t have a mortar/pestel put all ingredients into 250ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a kitchen wizz and mix up until smooth.

  When ready, pour over pasta, top up with some fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

  Store the leftover of the mixture in a glass (NOT plastic!) bottle in your fridge.

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Thanks Claude, sounds good, I wanted one that could be used cold or warmed up after cooking as I tend to cook a whole packet of pasta, let it drain, dry and put it into containers in the fridge. With the hours I work I don’t have time to cook just throw one of the precooked pasta meals in the microwave and heat. Don’t know what “mortar and pestel” are, sorry Im obviously not much of a cook! But will certainly try the rest, appreciate you getting back. You are amazing, not only with computers but a cook too!

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Ahh, I see! In that case, I suggest you go to Woolies, got to the vegie section and look for some pre-made herb sauces in toothpaste style wrapping. They are quite ok, I endure them whenever we eat at some non-culnary friends of ours.

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Oh no Claude, I like fresh dressings, trying to find something simple like a light oil, with basil, chilli and whatever else I need to make up a simple dressing. Have tried many off the self sauces and have yet to find anything I like. The thought of the tube stuff really does not appeal. But thank you anyway, I have your recipe to play aroud with, and will find what Im after by at least knowing which oil to buy as the base thanks to you.

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No exact measurements here but since I long ago lost my absolutely-favorite-in-the-whole-world spaghetti sauce recipe which included lean round ground beef, bay leaves, a sauce that took hours to cook, with wine added ~10 minutes before serving . . . Over the years I gave up trying to recreate it.
So here’s what I do now. I don’t have exact measurements and presume cooking for two, but if freezing sauce for future use I just do ‘guesstimates’ and you really can’t screw up with the basic tomato-basil-garlic recipe. I operate on the premise – “to taste”
onions, chopped (2)
garlic (3 large garlic cloves) [or ‘to taste’ and since garlic is my favoritie fragrance I go on the assumption that more is better and usually double this!]
tomatoes [*10-15??? ripe plum tomatoes]- (easiest: use diced canned tomatoes, supplement as necessary with 1/2 can more and/or add tomato paste)
pinch of sugar (try using a pinch of nutmeg instead of sugar)
1 tsp sea salt (better for you than iodized) or to taste
fresh grated pepper
3 tblspns dried basil (sweet basil pref) – if you are lucky enough to have fresh basil use 1-1 1/2 c.
Add oregano AND bay leaf if you like it that enhancement – if you’ve never tried either of the herbs before – no worries – they are harmless (*)

Saute onion & garlic until soft. Add rest of ingedients, bring to boil, reduce heat, partially cover, simmer 1-2 hrs, stir occasionally. For thicker sauce simmer longer (to enhance flavor, about 10 minutes before serving add a bit of wine [~use judgment depending on quantity of sauce] and simmer for a bit longer.
If you feel like adding other ingredients, go for it [ *in moderation of course]

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Greetings Toronto, and thank you for the recipe. I have been playing around with the basics of Claude’s lite oil based recipe which is turning out to be a lot of fun. Made a really nice pasta sauce using oil, lemon juice, basil, chives, onion, oregon leaves and peppers. It turned out great! Now I am having a go at Thai (stir fry sauces). Appreciate the recipe you posted, it sounds good, I love garlic and herbs so I am off to the market to get some fresh vegi’s.

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I too am looking for thai stir fry sauces, anyone with thoughts? I agree with Cyber about pasta sauces too, Claude has given a good one, I have tried it already, cyber you can alter the recipe to suit.

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I finally have enought leaves on my basil plant to try this recipe. Approximatly how many teaspoons are in 3 grams of nutmeg?

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It wasn’t my recipe but 3g of nutmeg is a miniscule amount much less than 1 teaspoon. I would suggest 3 rasps of the nutmeg across the grater!

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I hope to try this soon!

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I hope to try this soon!

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It wasn’t my recipe but 3g of nutmeg is a miniscule amount much less than 1 teaspoon. I would suggest 3 rasps of the nutmeg across the grater!

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I finally have enought leaves on my basil plant to try this recipe. Approximatly how many teaspoons are in 3 grams of nutmeg?

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