Pasta Shopping Basics and Garlic Bread

For all that I do enjoy a variety of food, one of my favorites is pasta in a red sauce. Now, people's tastes do vary when it comes to the shape of the pasta they like or the type of sauce they enjoy. I know some people who will only eat homemade sauce in their home, and I know others who just get a jar of whatever is cheapest regardless of who makes it. The same is true for pasta - some people only eat fresh pasta, others buy whatever box is least expensive at the time, and then there are the people who go out to eat for pasta and sauce, be it from their neighborhood pizza place or something a bit more upscale. While I like enjoying a good dinner out, I have a simple rule of thumb: unless I am exhausted or far away from home, never eat out what I can cook as well at home.

If your budget is really tight but you have a little bit of leeway for dining in to keep yourself from dining out, buying good pre-made pasta and sauce can keep you from paying more dining out.

When shopping for dry pasta, I have four things I look for aside from the price tag:

1. The shape of the pasta.  Texture matters to many people, and there’s a big difference between angel hair and tagliatelle, not to mention elbows and radiatorre.  Choose what works well for you.  Take it from me, getting spaghetti when you prefer linguini is a drag.  If you enjoy both equally, more power to you.
2. The pasta must be bronze die cut.  Most modern pasta manufacturers in the US try to keep their pasta as smooth as possible for easy shipping and storage.  Unfortunately, this results in very slippery pasta that doesn’t hold a sauce unless the sauce is really sticky.  Bronze dies make the pasta rougher, meaning that even linguini and spaghetti can hold onto your sauce.  
3. On occasion I want pasta made with eggs.  Not many megamarts carry dry pasta made this way.  It is more expensive, often rivaling or exceeding the price of buying fresh pasta from a corner fresh pasta store, plus it takes up more shelf space to boot.  However, it is generally richer and more toothsome than other dried pasta.  
4. On rare occasions I want a flavored pasta, commonly spinach.  Hey, I like spinach!  Only get a flavored dry pasta if you don't have a corner fresh pasta place near you, as fresh pasta will almost always have better flavor than dry.

Now, hunting for pre-made sauce means looking for different things, and unlike with pasta it’s more a list of Nots. Here are four things to avoid:

1. Lots of added of sugar unless you have problems with acid.  A few sauces will add concentrated fruit juice, which is similar in effect but at least adds a little more flavor.
2. Soybean oil.  This is the cheapest oil on the market, and it’s just not all that thrilling.  Extra virgin olive oil is the gold standard, but regular olive oil, grapeseed oil or canola oil will do in a pinch.
3. Dehydrated vegetables.  They’re probably rehydrated properly, but fresh beats freeze-dried in just about anything -- plus, sometimes they don’t rehydrate properly.
4. High sodium.  I have to avoid lots of salt for health reasons, but lots of people eat a lot more than the RDA.  More importantly, salt is a common flavor enhancer that can partly mask a lack of spices.  Generally speaking, the higher the salt count, the lower the spice count.

I generally try to keep my sauce purchases under $3 per 26 ounce jar, though I have gone slightly higher on occasion. I like several flavors of red sauce, from fra diavolo to marinara to vodka cream sauce; but for me the texture is equally as important. I don’t like sauces where vegetables weep water, nor do I like my sauces particularly chunky. Your tastes are probably different than mine, and that’s fine.

Here’s a simple recipe for roasted garlic cloves and garlic-flavored oil. Garlic oil is very good for salad dressings, cooking, and repelling vampires. Roasted garlic cloves are much milder and sweeter than raw garlic, and are good in anything you’d normally flavor with garlic. You can make an excellent garlic bread by toasting your Italian or sourdough bread, lightly buttering it, then spreading your roasted garlic cloves on top much like butter. 

The recipe is dead simple if you know where to find pre-shelled garlic cloves. Large quantities from a discount club, like Costco or BJs, come in very handy for this.  The roasted garlic should keep in your fridge for at least a month (usually several months), while the oil should stay good in the fridge for a year at least.  Do refrigerate them both!

Hardware:

Oven

oven-safe dish, such as a casserole dish

slotted spoon

two containers, one suitable for storing liquids

Ingredients:

enough pre-shelled garlic cloves to fill your dish halfway

enough oil to basically cover your garlic - olive (either regular or light, NOT extra virgin), canola, grapeseed and safflower are all suitable choices

Preheat your oven to 325ºF.  Put your garlic in your oven-safe dish and cover with the oil. Cook for about an hour, up to 10 minutes either way. Remove from the oven and test. When your garlic is golden and a fork can easily slip into a clove without any resistance, it’s done. Using your slotted spoon, put your newly-roasted garlic cloves in one container, your new garlic-infused oil in another container, and let them cool for at least an hour. When they’ve cooled down enough, put them in your fridge and take them back out whenever you want.

Have a good dinner!