Sauces galore

Dress up your dish

Whether it's a light tomato sauce without a lot of fuss, a green zesty pesto or a creamy béchamel, there's a sauce to suit anyone's taste buds.
Marinara sauce, which originated in Naples, is a spicy, quickly cooked pasta sauce that means "sailor" in Italian. It's particularly popular in North American restaurants and southern Italian cuisine. To make, combine seeded tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, basil, parsley, black pepper and chili pepper. Marinara sauce is perfect with spaghetti, penne, or rigatoni.
Tomato sauce is made from olive oil, onions, tomatoes, fresh basil, and salt and pepper to taste. To make, peel and chop the tomatoes and the onion. Fry the onion slices in a large frying pan with vegetable oil. Cook for about five minutes and then add the chopped tomatoes. Cook for about 10 minutes. Then add fresh basil leaves. Depending on the cook's taste buds, garlic is often added to the mix. Penne, which are sturdy and short, are best suited for this sauce.
If you like a hearty sauce, there's sugo alla Bolognese (Bolognese Meat Sauce). Ground beef is combined with pancetta, olive oil, onion, carrot, celery, dry red wine, tomatoes, beef broth, salt, pepper and grated parmigiano.
And on the greener side of things, there's salsa verde (green sauce). This sauce adds a zest to fish. To make it you'll need anchovy filets, boned, capers, a clove of garlic, a large bunch of parsley, minced, olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice to taste, pepper, salt and fresh parsley. Combine the solid ingredients and blend them with the olive oil and vinegar and pepper to taste. The consistency of the sauce should be fairly liquid, though not watery; add a little broth if need be. If you chose not to include the tuna, increase the capers and anchovies by a proportionate amount.
Béchamel sauce was created in the 14th century by Catherine de Medici's Italian chefs. Medici, an Italian citizen, married King Henry II of France in 1533 and Medici took the Italian sauce with her to France. Béchamel sauce, known as besciamella in Italy, is a decadent, white sauce that is well worth the guilt you'll feel after indulging.

Publication Date: 2006-05-14
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=6241