Pasta Sauce.

As someone who works 4 days a week there is something I'd like to explain to you about days off. There are two kinds. The first are those fantastically productive days when you wake up refreshed and ready to go. Chores are done, lists crossed off and at the end of the day you feel satisfied as you proved yourself to be a productive member of society.

Then there are the other kind. The kind when you wake up at 1 pm and never feel like putting clothes on. I feel television marathons were designed for just such a day. Then at least you feel like you've accomplished something.

Well I had the day off yesterday and let me tell ya, my name is Alexandra Sandin and I am a productive member of society. Not only did I sleep in and had a relaxing breakfast, but I was dressed by 1, out of the house by 2 and didn't walk back in until 6. Take that To Do List!! And I made a delicious dinner, typed up this post, did three loads of laundry and watched Mostly Martha. All before midnight.

Due to most of my past week feeling like a Day Off Type 2 it has been a while since my last grocery run and my cupboards are bare. A quick pop into the W-greens on the way home furnished me with a box of spaghetti and Ragu. Yes. You read that right. Ragu. I buy Ragu because I know the secret of Pasta Sauce.

Many years ago I found myself living in Boulder Colorado for a summer and rooming with a girl that would become my Best Friend, the lovely Moshkana. At this time I was already a devotee of Pasta and ate it at least once a week in a variety of forms. Communal living often leads to shared meals, which was the case here, so you can imagine my shock and consternation when Moshka told me that she did not like tomato sauce. What the f*ck was I going to cook?? Pasta without tomato sauce is not the end of the world, there are lots of white sauces and vegetable dishes, but for three months?? Something had to be done. I began analyze her. "Is this a tomato issue or a sauce issue?""Tomato. I don't like them.""....okaaaay. Ummm. Have you ever had a tomato sauce you've liked?" "Not really, they're usually too thin.""Would you be open to trying a thick one?""Possibly."

And so began my quest to made an acceptable pasta sauce for Moshka.

Seeing as pasta with tomato sauce is usually a weeknight meal I almost never make sauce from scratch. And there are so many good quality pasta sauces on the market it's never bothered me. But in this case I needed to do something to bought sauce other than just heat it up. I started with olive oil and smashed garlic cloves. Always a good thing to start with! Then some chopped red onion to sautee a little. Then came the sauce with a dash of basil, parsley, S&P and a hit of lemon juice. And then I let it simmer for a looong while. Because that ladies and gents is the Secret of Pasta Sauce. Reduction. In the words of a faux-Christopher Walken: "Reduce that fat mother f*cker as long as it takes I dont' care! Reduce! Reduce! Reduce 'till you're down to the essence, the bare truth, exposed to the elements!"

Reducing the sauce brings all that lovely tomato flavor into a sharper (and thicker!) focus. It's a clingy sauce now with bits of onion (which I think are key though if you have none the world will not end) to punch it up. It was such a hit with Moshka that Wednesday became an official Pasta Nite where we would grab a bottle (each) of cheap champagne on the way home and eat huge bowls of penne with Sauce while watching a movie. The night we watched Gigi is still legendary due to an incident of couch dancing. And at the end of the summer I wrote out the above Sauce recipe so that she could continue to eat pasta in my absence.

It is now impossible for me to like sauce straight out of the jar without it being Sauced now. It just doesn't taste right. Or maybe its just that I know it can taste better. And the best thing is that any jar of sauce will turn into deliciousness if all you do is reduce it. Even Ragu. Perhaps especially Ragu since it is such a simple sauce, as if it was intended to be a starting point all along. And I personally get a kick out of using convenience store ingredients to make something fantastic, don't you! Who says living on a young adult budget can't taste good?? In college I made peanut noodles with Ramen, added amoretto creamer to my cocoa when I was out of milk, and made Johnny cakes when I was down to nothing but cornmeal. Budgets (andy laziness) are a challenge I adore. At this moment I'm sipping a cocktail of Andre and Squirt. What can I say, I'm pinkies up fancy ;-)

And just a note on Mostly Martha: it's wonderful. My Auntie D was right, it is good enough to now ignore the American remake! I did miss Mr. Eckhart and Puccini but as the makers of No Reservations basically just copied oh...everything there's not much of a difference other than the original being (duh) more fabulous. Why is Hollywood so lazy? I often wonder this while watching Americanized versions of Euro movies (The Dinner Game, Death at a Funeral, Coupling etc etc). But that is a discussion/rant for another day. See if your library has it, just remember to switch on subtitles, unless you're Cait who speaks German!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and if your weather is like mine, enjoy this last bit of Winter! Tonight I'm going to watch the snow, make meatloaf and drink hot chocolate to make the most of it!