T1B

my mouth's watering like diego at a cub scout meeting.

sounds good. will try.

i assume the pasta is cooked first? or is it cooked in the sauce?

mvscal wrote:Yes, cook the pasta first.

Like, a day or two in advance?

(next time I see some ground veal I'll be picking some up for this)

Hmmmm...I'd prolly cook the sauce in advance, then cook the pasta when I need it. Have you tried storing or even freezing the sauce?

I've never "made" fresh pasta, but I've tried the packaged fresh stuff that they have in the market refrigerator section. I seems to come out lighter than the dried stuff version, at least the linguine that I tried. Marcella Hazan, though if I remember right, seems to recommend the dried version of most pasta, and that's good enough for me.

mvscal wrote:

Mikey wrote:Hmmmm...I'd prolly cook the sauce in advance, then cook the pasta when I need it. Have you tried storing or even freezing the sauce?

I was kinda being sarcastic there about cooking pasta a week in advance...

So you got my sarcasm about a day or two...dude you're just too subtle for me to get.

I got the pasta maker for my Kitchen Aid mixer. Have tried it once with horrible results. And I followed the directions to a tee. Must be the kind of semolina I have. I don't know. I will need to try again. The wife and kids are being shipped off to the condo in FLorida for 10 days in January. Sounds like as good a time as any to destroy the house for 9 days cooking all kinds of shit and then cleaning up on day 10.

I agree with mvscal about having the right pasta for the right sauce. Due to the texture and shape of different pastas, they absorb and hold sauces differently. Personally, I love penne or ziti the most because those seem to hold the sauce the best. My typical red sauce or alfredo is very thick so these work best for that kind of sauce. I don't do much with string pastas (spaghetti, angel hair, fettuccini, etc) anymore because the wife won't eat it. Too much work to twirl a fork on a spoon or use a knife and fork I guess.

I like your basic pomodoro, but how do you get more flavor out of the sauce? It seems when I make this it's just a little too bland tasting. Is it just a simple matter of simmering it longer to let the flavors marry?

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:I like your basic pomodoro, but how do you get more flavor out of the sauce? It seems when I make this it's just a little too bland tasting. Is it just a simple matter of simmering it longer to let the flavors marry?

Try dried oregano. It just does something fantastic to tomato sauce.