Rec: pasta with “fake” sauce

[mariadnoca]

Another recipe you never heard of from milk street. A very frugal meal option.

The Pasta With “Fake” Sauce Is the Real Deal

This vegetarian dish comes together like magic.

www.yahoo.com

 

[lana-in-fl]

Do you know why they insist you should scrape the gills off the portobello mushroom? Is it just because of the color? Also, I wonder why they don't use any herbs.

 

[mariadnoca]

Do you know why they insist you should scrape the gills off the portobello mushroom? Is it just because of the color? Also, I wonder why they don't use any herbs.

I don’t know, but I haven’t used portobello mushrooms in forever. The lack of herbs probably is traditional. I grew up around two families from Italy, like did’t speak English Italians. Their food is beyond delicious, but uses very simple fresh ingredients, I’ve eaten similar in their homes. The pasta covered w heavy sauces and all, is Italian-American, but not at all how Italians from Italy eat In my experience.

 

[lana-in-fl]

I don’t know, but I haven’t used portobello mushrooms in forever. The lack of herbs probably is traditional. I grew up around two families from Italy, like did’t speak English Italians. Their food is beyond delicious, but uses very simple fresh ingredients, I’ve eaten similar in their homes. The pasta covered w heavy sauces and all, is Italian-American, but not at all how Italians from Italy eat In my experience.

That's odd. My sister had Italian friends in South Africa, straight from Italy (and have since returned), and the recipes they gave me used herbs. I wouldn't call their food heavy at all, and they were very moderate with garlic. Maria grew quite annoyed with me one day, when I said something about buying garlic, and accused me of thinking that Italian food was loaded with it.

 

[mariadnoca]

I remember my friends mom, who turned their suburban lot into a food forest, mostly made sauce w a soffritto/mirepoix base (according to my friend). Her most often used sauce though, was her home canned tomatoes w a sprig of basil and 1 clove garlic per quart jar. Nothing was overtly garlic. Garlic was a background note, not a forward flavor. I’m still kicking myself for not having her teach me her recipes bc I thought my friend would know them, and I don’t speak Italian. After her mom passed away I found out she actually didn’t know for sure how her mom made all that stuff. There was zero packaged food in her mom’s kitchen. She made bread daily and from that recipe (nobody knows it) she made a focaccia type pizza with the tomato basil sauce (which I kind of think that’s how she canned her tomatoes, but she told me in Italian so I’m not sure) that was died and go to heaven good. I still crave it.

 

[Marg CDN]

There are so many regions of Italy and the food as well, is regional. There are major major differences among the regions and the climate conditions. Kind of interesting that this week, I gave a friend some of the bolognese that I had just made. I guess I should not have assumed that she knew what it was. She added "sauce" and herbs to it, before putting it on the pasta. Marcella's bolognese calls for garlic, but no herbs. It is such a delicate conconction that simmers away gently for a total of about 4 hours and I cannot imagine what it became with sauce and herbs.

Reminds me that I have a Sicilian cookbook that has some interesting recipes. I should haul it out. They use currants and raisins liberally. Good stuff.

 

[mariadnoca]

Marcella is a self taught Italian cook. Her famous sauce with butter was way outside my experience. My younger yrs neighbor friend grandparents were from Italy. The grandfather spoke no English and was a working fisherman at fisherman’s wharf in San Francisco. They were the grandparents (and aunts, uncles, and cousins) I grew up with since none of mine lived near. In all these families I knew, putting butter in sauce would be sacrilegious. And I know many like it, but it becomes inedible to me, it’s a flavor that seems all wrong to me.

 

[monj]

Do you know why they insist you should scrape the gills off the portobello mushroom? Is it just because of the color? Also, I wonder why they don't use any herbs.

I think the gills impart a muddy color to the sauces, especially a white cream sauce.