Before Covid came, I had never prepared a proper pasta sauce from the scratch.

And after the Covid-era, I always prepare pasta sauces from scratch. I cannot imagine exposing my palate and my J-bag to the store-brought-monstrosity-in-a-jar. 

And before today’s kitchen miracle, I had only prepared the red sauce from scratch only once in which the farfalle had totally lost their shape.

So on a fine day in May 2020, I decided to utilize my rest time between 2-5pm on weekdays (I worked morning and evening slots as I had US projects but I am a morning person). I did not plan, just went to the refrigerator, got 2-3 tomatoes out. While I was thinking what exactly to cook, I started chopping garlic and onions. Then I randomly decided to purée the tomatoes and retain the skin because Mama did not raise a food-waster.

Then in a deep aluminium Indian pan or kadhai, I added extra virgin olive oil and then  finely chopped garlic. 

And got lost in the aroma!

I love the way garlic creates magic with olive oil – a different fantasy world – Pastaland! And when you add onions to this – oh my! I could just be in the kitchen, taking in the gentle waft of this mixture!

But since it was a working day, I had to return to the reality! 

I took another pan to boil the pasta. And then added the tomato purée and oregano. My sister was there to supervise the addition of oregano so that the pasta does not taste bitter – too much of oregano can cause that.

And then I let the mixture simmer as red sauce needs to be cooked for 45 minutes to 1 hour to get that sticky texture. You have to boil your pasta accordingly so that you can add it towards the end. Same for the vegetables as they need to have a crunchy and not a soggy texture. 

You know when a red sauce is prepared to welcome the boiled pasta? When it is thick, sticky and has a rich tomatoey aroma! You need to add salt and pepper first and then pasta and vegetables. Then let this cook for another 10 minutes.

But there is a twist you can do if you want the red sauce packed with a punch. Drizzle some red wine, preferably Shiraz Cabarnet. The tang and the zest that gets added to the sauce is phenomenal!

Red sauce pasta from scratch is heavenly. But the one with a drizzle of red wine – nectar of that heaven!

The pasta I used here is farfalle only that was boiled under supervision by my sister and came out perfect in texture!

My sister also loved the taste. My parents did not have it because they are totally against alcohol in all forms, except cough syrup and hand sanitizer.