Yeah, I know the limitations. I’m in Taibei, and still do most from scratch, just because it’s fun to do, cost effective, and better than store-bought. Here are a pesto and a tomato sauce recipe. You can simplify if you like:
Basic Pesto:
Pesto
2 cups fresh basil leaves (save a few for garnish)
5 medium garlic cloves, chopped roughly and sauteed in 2/3 c. pure olive oil to reduce sharpness
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (or pecorini romano, or grana padano) – save a tad for garnish
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts (cheaper), lightly toasted in toaster oven
1/2 tsp. salt; dash of black pepper
More extra virgin olive oil as needed for consistency and richness
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process on high speed till evenly chopped pureed.
HOW TO USE:
Cook your pasta noodles. Drain. Heat a frying pan. Add 2-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Add 2 Tbsp (tablespoons) of the pesto, and optionally a few Tbsp of whole milk or light cream, and stir quickly. Add your drained pasta noodles. Stir quickly to coat the noodles with the pesto sauce. If the sauce is too thick to blend well with the noodles, add a quarter cup or less of water, and keep stirring. Cook about one minute. Turn off heat and serve. Garnish with grated hard Italian cheese (see above), and a couple of basil leaves.
===============================
Basic Italian Tomato Pasta Sauce
Equipment: a good stock pot. Use a potato masher to mash the canned tomatoes if they’re in overly large chunks, or chop up with a knife after draining, or use a stick blender or food processor
Ingredients:
Pure (not extra virgin, not pomace) olive oil, about 3 T (T =tablespoons)
1 onion, chopped
Roughly 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (use less or more depending on how much you like garlic)
Roughly 400 grams of minced pork OR ground beef. Some of this can be Italian sausage, but don’t use Taiwanese sausages.
And either: four to six cans of Italian tomatoes (the best are Roma stewed with basil; and finely diced is best but any will do), with the liquid from 2 cans, e.g. the small cans from Costco, PLUS 1 T sugar just to cut acidity, not to make it sweet.
or: two - three cans of the above plus one jar of better quality pasta sauce (at least $130/jar) plus ½ T of sugar
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons of dried Italian spices (add early)
2 teaspoons of garlic spice mix from Costco, optional
handful of fresh basil leaves, or 1 tsp dried basil (fresh herbs are always better; add near the very end, especially for fresh basil) optional
Good quality Italian noodles
Optional: 8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced or
½ can of sliced black olives
I like to also soak some dried mushrooms in boiling water for a while, add this now brownish water to the sauce, finely mince the stems, and mince the shrooms, to add more umami to the sauce. Optionally also melt an anchovy or two into the oil at the start of the whole process.
and/or grated Parmesan, Grana Padano or Romano cheese, to taste, ¼ c to ½ c, optional
Salt to taste, but only after adding the olives and cheese, and tasting!
Directions: Sauté ground meat in olive oil until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the onions, garlic, and, if adding, mushrooms, in pure olive oil until the mushrooms are tender and the onion is soft and translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add the tomatoes, crushing large chunks with your large spoon or spatula (or chop on a board first). Add all spices including the dried basil if using, but don’t add fresh basil yet, if using. Stew 5 minutes, stirring. Add pasta sauce if using, plus the sugar. Stir.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce for 20-60 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the sauce to thicken but not burn. A very heavy-bottomed stockpot is much less likely to burn. Stir more often as you get later into the cooking process. TASTE the sauce to see if it is spicy enough and salty enough. If too acidic, add a touch of sugar, and change to a different brand of tomatoes the next time.
Feel free to add more of the spices, especially the garlic spice powder mix, a dash of olive oil, salt, etc., until it tastes delicious. (Meanwhile, cook just enough noodles for one meal. Remember to add 1 tablespoon of salt to the water while heating it. Let it boil before you add the noodles. After the first 5-6 minutes, eat a noodle once every minute or so until they are ‘al dente’, or Q-Q-的. It should take about 7 minutes total for spaghetti, and 2-5 minutes longer than that for thick shapes… Do NOT overcook until soft. Remember, they will keep cooking in the hot water even after you turn the flame off, so make sure you serve the pasta immediately when it reaches the al dente stage. If not ready to serve, pull the noodles out of the water, and toss with 1 Tbsp olive oil to protect them from drying out.
When the noodles are done, turn off the heat. Stir the fresh basil into the pasta sauce (saving two leaves for a garnish, if desired) and also turn off the heat for that. Drain the hot water out of the noodles pot immediately, to prevent them from continuing to cook. Serve immediately, sprinkling a little Parmesan cheese on top of each bowl of noodles and sauce.
There are three ways to add the sauce to noodles. One is just to heap some of the sauce atop the noodles, then garnish and serve. Another is to mix some of the sauce with the noodles in a bowl or pot, then serve that. The third is to mix some of the sauce with the noodles in a frying pan, with the heat on, cooking it for one minute or so to “meld” the sauce with the noodles. You might have to add a little water (1-2 Tablespoons) if doing this, so the sauce doesn’t get too thick.
