Pasta With Pepper and Tomato Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Should you put black pepper in tomato sauce? ›

Tomatoes and black pepper are a perfect pairing–whether you're adding pepper to a Tomato-based sauce or topping a fresh Tomato slice with salt and pepper, you just can't go wrong. This versatile spice is best when ground fresh from peppercorns, adding a sharp, woody flavor that complements many dishes.

Pungent fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and marjoram can liven up tomato sauce with their bold, distinctive flavors. Add 1 to 2 sprigs of one or more of them to your favorite sauce, cover, and simmer at least 5 minutes to allow them to infuse in the sauce. Remove the sprigs before serving.

Simply pour the sauce into a small saucepan while you're going about boiling your pasta. Let it come to a boil, then reduce the heat so that the sauce gently bubbles. Keep the simmer going for about 10 minutes or so, until you've noticed that the sauce has reduced and thickened a little, but is still saucy.

Add depth to pasta sauce

Tomato paste is great to have on hand when making a tomato-based pasta sauce, since it can intensify the umami tomato flavors already present. It's a key ingredient in this simple marinara sauce, which you can make entirely from canned tomatoes.

If you're using a plain tomato (marinara) sauce, stir in seasonings to add extra flavor. Red pepper flakes, dehydrated or fresh garlic, dried oregano, parsley, or basil, or an Italian seasoning blend are all good options.

Add fresh herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary, bay leaf), and let them simmer to give a punch of fresh flavor.

Maybe it needs a touch of salt, red pepper flakes, or some fresh garlic to liven it up. You could add dried or fresh herbs too: oregano, basil, thyme, tarragon, parsley—they're all great! Want to go next level? Toss in some chopped anchovies (or anchovy salt), olives, or some lemon zest and/or juice.

The addition of butter helps to loosen and emulsify the sauce, making it smooth and creamy. Butter plays another pivotal role in jarred sauce. Because of the naturally high acidity of tomato sauce, I find that most store-bought tomato sauces tend to be way too abrasive and sharp-tasting.

First, in authentic Italian cuisine, the sauce is always tossed with the pasta before it ever hits the plate. Just before the sauce is done cooking, the hot pasta is added to the saucepan. Generally speaking, we recommend cooking the pasta in the sauce together for about 1-2 minutes.

Once the pasta is in the sauce, add pasta water. This is the most vital step in the process. Starchy pasta water doesn't just help thin the sauce to the right consistency; it also helps it cling to the pasta better and emulsify with the fat and cheese you're going to be adding.

How to make pasta with tomato sauce taste better? ›

Toss in Olives or Capers

Briny ingredients like olives or capers are another way to brighten up your pasta sauce while also introducing texture and depth of flavor. Roughly chop a handful and stir them into your sauce while it's heating up on the stove.

Tomato sauce is thinner than both tomato puree and tomato paste and it is seasoned. Tomato puree provides a rich tomato taste in a thick sauce with no seasonings whatsoever. Tomato paste has the thickest texture and consistency of all three and is used to add a savory, cooked brown note to your dishes.

The main differences between tomato sauce and tomato paste are its texture, which is a direct result of each product's concentration of tomato (vs water), and additives: Flavor: Tomato paste is more concentrated, so it has a more potent flavor.

Marinara can be left chunky; the texture of the finished sauce is fairly loose, and the taste is that of fresh tomatoes. Tomato sauce, on the other hand, is a more complex affair, starting with pureed tomatoes seasoned with onion, carrot, celery, and bay leaf, and left to simmer until thickened and rich in flavor.

Think of black pepper as the yin to salt's yang. The golden rule is think before you add a pinch, and only reach for the black pepper if what you're cooking will benefit from the subtle flavours and heat this spice will add.

Packed with antioxidants, vitamin C, E and beta-carotene, tomatoes help prevent free-radical activity and reduce oxidative stress that takes a toll on your immunity. When mixed with black pepper, this soup will not just give you warmth and comfort, but also help in strengthening immunity.

Using toasted and fresh black pepper doubles up on flavor, giving the dish more complexity. Grating the cheese very finely on a Microplane instead of shredding it helps it incorporate more smoothly.

The main active ingredient in black peppercorns is piperine, which is the source of black pepper's characteristic heat. Aside from heat, black pepper carries a complex flavor profile of piney, citrusy notes. By adding more black pepper to a dish, eventually the heat from the piperine becomes the main flavor.