The Triumphs and Fails of Pasta…
Ahhh, the early years of my fails with pasta. Sometimes I think back to when I first attempted cooking pasta. It was sad- my friend had spaghetti noodles in their house and we were both hungry. They said I was welcome to make whatever I like and I saw the pasta and thought it can’t be that hard to make, can it?
It is when you have never boiled water before.
Back then we didn’t have Google or Alexa. We had encyclopedias and Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Who was going to teach me how to boil water, Jeffrey?
I grabbed a pot, put the water in, and turned on the burner to medium. I read the instructions but ehhh, I may have put the noodles in the water and it wasn’t boiling yet. And there may have not been a strainer around. Pretty scary.
Think soggy wet noodles, the kind only a dog would love if you left your plate out. LOL
It was awful. I didn’t even know how to do anything with the tomato sauce.
Give me a little grace though, I was fresh outta high school and my prior cooking skills were home economics in 8th grade and things that go into a microwave.
About a year later I was telling my co-worker friend this horrible story and they were like “OMG, you don’t how to make pasta?! I will show you!”- well ok!
The first thing they said to me was, “the secret ingredient in a good pasta sauce is sugar!
What!? I was intrigued.
I was super excited for this moment. My friend was going to teach me how to make a legit pasta dish!
We went to the store- ” first you have to get your meat, go with ground beef and pick out an already made pasta sauce and veggies- like good veggies because the pasta sauce needs things added to it like onion, garlic, mushrooms, green bell peppers, and parsley. Make sure you have salt, pepper, red chili flakes and sugar. ”
Ok. Got it, Check.
After I learned how to properly boil my pasta with salted water and had a strainer waiting for me like a chauffeur opening your car door, waiting for you to get in to take you to the ball, I was ready to dive into this sauce.
With my shitty first apartment kitchen knives, I cut up all the veggies and browned the meat in olive oil and started adding all the goodies.
When it came to adding the sugar, I added only about a table spoon.
I’m not trying to brag- but this pasta was really was amazing. I probably made this recipe for about 5 years straight. LOL
I know no longer use sugar in my pasta sauce, well only on special occasions but I’ve moved on to creating lasagne’s, fettuccines, and pasta casseroles like this one:
This is the perfect dish for the family, it’s toddler approved and also it’s nice to have left overs the next day.
Pasta is something that once you learn how to make it, the variations of what you can create are endless. I’m glad I didn’t give up on my pasta making skills and one life tip – always make sure you have a strainer in your kitchen!
Feeling inspired to cook up pasta now? Be sure to make my Sunday Veggie Dump Pasta and also my Simple Gnocchi and Pesto .
