What are some healthy & light pasta sauces?

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AstraeaLunaAvani

Assistant Cook
Joined
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As far as pasta sauce goes, I really only know of 2; tomato sauce and alfredo sauce. I'm bored with tomato sauce and lost interest in alfredo sauce because it's too fattening and the flavor got overwhelming to me. So i'm trying to find some kind of sauce for pasta that is light and healthy. My favorite things to put on pasta are garlic, red pepper flakes, and parmesan cheese. Sometimes I put basil in there, or onions. Is there a sauce that goes well with these ingredients that I could use? Thanks in advance!
 
>>tomato sauce

ah, but not all tomato sauce is "equal" !

the season is coming - fresh real tomatoes - so here's my madness:

big heavy pot, quarter (or more) the tomatoes - remove any greenish/whitish stem areas. fill the pot to the brim, cook them down slowly with diced green pepper and onion, smidgen of salt & fresh ground black pepper. this takes 3-4 hours.

I leave the skins on - you can blanch&peel if you wish.

the madness? there's no sugar, emulsifiers, flavor enhancers, etc. this sauce tastes fresh out of the garden comma which it actually is....

I garden, all my "extra" tomatoes get turned into sauce. I even buy 'seconds' or 'culls' from the local produce stands. at $2-3 per half bushel, it's a bargain. when drowning in fresh vine ripe tomatoes, I simply let it cool, put into quart freezer bags, freeze and stash it for the off season. even resurrected from frozen it beats commercial sauces to death with a wooden spoon.

the minimal seasoning approach is so when you want it for a specific recipe, you can tweak the flavor - all of the usual and customary suspects work - garlic, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, etc.

obviously, it produces a somewhat 'chunky' sauce - if you need/want a smooth sauce, couple passed with a stick blender makes that happen - even coming back from frozen.

it is not an attempt as a "fake" recipe for the famous name brands. it is entirely different and fresher tasting. we don't eat a lot of pizza, but it's all 'home made' and it doesn't get made unless we have homemade sauce.

the other "must have" dishes in our house are shrimp in tomato sauce over rice.

it sounds like a bit of work, it is, need freezer for the surplus, but compared to stuff out of a jar, it's in a class of its own. I try to go into the off season with 5-8 gallons in the freezer. oh, one tip - put the quart bags flat on a cookie sheet and let them freeze "flat" - then they stack nicely...
 
After sauteeing the garlic and red pepper flakes in extra virgin olive oil, add low sodium chicken broth and dry white wine, and simmer until desired consistency. The longer you simmer, the more concentrated the flavor. Toss in the pasta. Serve with Parmigiano Reggiano.

Some additions to the saute: Mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, black olives, roasted red peppers, shallots, herbs, spices, etc., etc.
 
Bigjim68 said:
With those ingredients, all you need is a good quality EVOO.
Click to expand...

I do use EVOO, I just didn't mention it because I thought it was a given! :LOL: I've never sauted my garlic in it though, I just put it all in there together after my pasta is done. Next time I will saute it, that's probably the right way to do it anyway, I just like to experiment without following rules too much! :LOL:
 
DcSaute...I would like to make my own tomato sauce eventually, I did plant tomatoes last year but they never grew (I'm a beginner!), this year maybe I'll have better luck. I will buy some vine ripened tomatoes fresh sometime and try it. I always prefer things fresh anyway, the stuff in a jar always leaves me unsatisfied! Thanks for the reply!!
 
merstar said:
After sauteeing the garlic and red pepper flakes in extra virgin olive oil, add low sodium chicken broth and dry white wine, and simmer until desired consistency. The longer you simmer, the more concentrated the flavor. Toss in the pasta. Serve with Parmigiano Reggiano.

Some additions to the saute: Mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, black olives, roasted red peppers, shallots, herbs, spices, etc., etc.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions! This is making my mouth water already! I don't have any dry white wine but will pick some up soon! I don't know why I never thought to saute anything, I just threw it all together once the pasta was done, raw. Thanks again, i'm excited to try this next time!
 
AstraeaLunaAvani said:
Thanks for the suggestions! This is making my mouth water already! I don't have any dry white wine but will pick some up soon! I don't know why I never thought to saute anything, I just threw it all together once the pasta was done, raw. Thanks again, i'm excited to try this next time!
Click to expand...

You're very welcome!

There's nothing wrong with adding raw ingredients, and you can mix and match with the sauteed stuff. For example, you can saute most of the garlic, but leave a small amount raw if you'd like, and add them together - you'll have 2 distinct tastes of garlic, with the raw being more intense. Just be careful when you saute the garlic, because it can burn very easily. The advantage to sauteeing the vegetables in garlic-infused oil is they will take on the delicious flavor of the garlic, plus their own juices will be added to the sauce.

Tomatoes will break down faster than some of the other ingredients, so you can cook them less or more, depending on the consistency you want.

The chicken broth/white wine is a good base for a sauce, and you can use it in lots of different types of dishes. Make sure you use white wine, not cooking wine!

Have fun experimenting!
 
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alla checca

AstraeaLunaAvani said:
As far as pasta sauce goes, I really only know of 2; tomato sauce and alfredo sauce. I'm bored with tomato sauce and lost interest in alfredo sauce because it's too fattening and the flavor got overwhelming to me. So i'm trying to find some kind of sauce for pasta that is light and healthy. My favorite things to put on pasta are garlic, red pepper flakes, and parmesan cheese. Sometimes I put basil in there, or onions. Is there a sauce that goes well with these ingredients that I could use? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
While I know it contains tomatoes, have you ever tried pasta alla checca? It's a no cook "steeped" sauce using EVOO and garden tomatoes, garlic,fresh basil, etc. Just google it as there are many recipes for it online.
 
>>they never grew . . .

I've been gardening for decades. there are years when "it just doesn't go right" - so sweat not the little stuff - find a good local source and freeze away (g)

"tastes great" trumps "my garden" - every time.
 
Lemon and dill sauce, made with EVOO, on angel hair pasta.

Soy sauce, oil, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, sliced green onions, quartered grape tomatoes and sesame seeds on spaghetti or ramen/soba noodles.
 
Beef broth, Worcestershire sauce and yogurt to make a modified stroganoff sauce.
 
My favorite pasta dish is jus t ribbon pasta dressed with butter, grated Parm/reg and ripped fresh basil.
 
Start your pasta cooking. Take a couple of garlic cloves and a couple anchovy fillets and make a paste with the flat of your chefs knife. Add this to olive oil and wisk. Seed and dice some fresh tomatoes or use grape tomatoes cut in half. Tear some fresh basil leaves. Stir tomatoes and basil into olive oil mixture. Add red pepper flakes to taste. The anchovys took care of the salt. When pasta is done, drain well, add to serving bowl, add sauce, toss and serve! Provide red pepper flakes so everyone can adjust heat to their liking and some grated romano or parm.

No cook sauce.

BTW, if you don't tell them, they will probably not know there are anchovys in it.

Craig
 
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I love fresh vegetables, lightly sauteed and tossed with angel hair (choose your own pasta). When the fresh tomatoes come in, it will be just chopped tomatoes, olive oil, and pasta with a favorite seasoning and/or whatever herbs are in season. A touch of any grating cheese or the cheese crumbles you can buy these days (feta, blue, goat). Fresh, frozen or even canned green beans are great for this, summer squash (with or without the tomatoes). The thing is that this is also good leftover and cold for lunch the next day.

If you cook out, grill slices of squash, eggplant, onion, lightly brushed or tossed with olive oil and your favorite seasonings. Then keep them to use during the week. Chopped and tossed with pasta they are a wonderful dinner.

Oh, I see you're from Minnesota! Right now asparagus is in, and it is perfect for this. Steam, grill, or roast. If you wish you can make it a heartier thing by adding something creamy, but if you're getting away from that, once again, the basic olive oil and garlic go very well with it!
 
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