I don’t use commercial pasta sauce. I like making my pasta sauce from scratch. There are times though when it’s tempting to just stack up on jars of pasta sauce. They seem so convenient. Earlier today, I was in such a rush to cook lunch and I thought, “If I had a jar of pasta sauce, all I would have to do is cook the pasta and pour the sauce over it.” It would be going against the grain, so to speak, since I like fresh ingredients in my pasta sauce. Anyway, it was a fleeting thought. I do get weird thoughts when I’m in “panic mode”. I managed to cook a complete pasta meal from scratch in less than 30 minutes and the result reaffirmed my belief that commercial sauce will never ever replace homemade sauce.
The pasta in the photo was made with lean bacon, chopped onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, tomato paste and cheese. I served the pasta with day-old bread which I toasted with butter in the frying pan–faster than waiting for the oven to heat up. The few slices of day-old white bread were the only bread in the house–my husband forgot to buy, duh!
Ingredients :
200 g. of pasta (macaroni, penne, ziti)
200 g. of lean bacon
1 large white onion
1 large green bell pepper
4 plump, juicy tomatoes
a handful of fresh basil leaves
2 tbsps. of tomato paste
2 c. of meat broth (recipe)
4-6 tbsps. of olive oil
4-6 slices of quickmelt cheese
salt, pepper and sugar to taste
grated parmesan cheese for garnish
Cooking procedure :
Boil the pasta according to package directions, undercooking it by about 3 minutes (allowing it to finish cooking in the sauce gives it better flavor). Drain, dousing with cold water. Set aside.
While the pasta cooks, make the sauce.
Peel and coarsely chop the onion. Core the bell peppers, remove the seeds, then coarsely chop. Coarsely chop the tomatoes as well. A tip: if you’re serving the pasta to kids who hate vegetables, it would be better to finely chop everything. When the vegetables liquefy, they will no longer be visible. My kids enjoy their vegetables so I only coarsely chop them. The cooked pasta dish looks more appetizing with the variety of colors and textures.
Finely slice the bacon.
Snip the basil leaves (use kitchen shears) into small pieces.
Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan. Add the bacon and cook until opaque. Add the vegetables and cook, stirring, for abour two minutes. Pour in the meat broth. Stir in the tomato paste. Season with salt, pepper and a little sugar. Throw in the basil leaves. Bring to a soft boil, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Uncover the sauce pan and add the slices of quickmelt cheese. Stir gently until the cheese melts. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss well. Cover, turn off the heat and leave for about 5 minutes to allow the pasta to absorb all the liquid that it can.
Garnish with grated parmesan cheese and serve with buttered toast on the side.
[tags]pasta+recipe, easy+recipes, recipe+blog, cooking, cooking+blog, Food+and+drink, Filipino+food, Philippines, pinoy+cooking[/tags]
Hello Sassy, so that is why “Pasta Paniker”. Bon dimanche… Have a nice Sunday!
Hey, Sas!
Growing up, my mom cooked everything from scratch. I remember her spaghetti sauce…it was so good. She would let it simmer for hours on end. I would love to cook everything from scratch but I just don’t have the time and the energy after working 9 hrs a day, 5 days a week. But when my daughter comes home during her college breaks (which are not long enough, IMO ^_^) , I make a point to cook her favorite dishes. She loves anything Pasta. I’m going to be trying some of your pasta dishes. They look & sound so delicious, easy and nutritious. And I’m sure they are.
To accompany some pasta dishes, with any day-old bread, you could spread butter, roast & finely mince garlic and add parmesan sprinkles. Makes plain ol’ bread and butter a bit more interesting.
The delight of doing pasta is you can get as creative s you can get
Just mix and match the basics from your pantry and viola 
I have been doing loads of experiments – ala panic mode …and I think as long as there’s tomato and basil, it’s done!
I never use canned sauces either. No matter how “cheesy” they are, or that they have “real meat”, it just can’t compare to fresh homemade sauce. Like you, I also use tomatoes in addition to the tomato paste. I like chunky sauces =)
We also use tuna instead of ground beef, because it’s not greasy.
Yes, relly, a real panic-time pasta dish.
Shirley, hi!
Your toast with cheese sounds great. Thanks.
i agree, cathy b, definitely. one time i even used a jar os spanish sardines and it was so good.
chevee, the times i did use ready-to-pour spaghetti sauce, well… i didn’t pour them over the pasta. i cooked the sauce. you know, treated it like it was plain tomato sauce and added REAL meat and veggies.
Hi Ms. Sassy Lawyer!
Can I use your Pinoy recipes for my school project?
Hi Raymond. They’re all free for everyone to cook but not to republish.
I take pride in my cooking and like you, I make my own pasta sauce. I use fresh tomatoes from baguio. ahh, pasta. Makes me want to cook some tonight
ahhhh, baguio… makes me want to go there.
ang init dito!!!!!!! 
nice, esp. with the bacon! my panic recipe (when dairy was still allowed in the house) is simple too: extra virgin olive oil-garlic-onion-canned Italian tomatoes (the Italians do use them!)-red pepper flakes-cream…. yum. and yes, sometimes bacon too.
anong temperature d’yan ngayon, connie?
Hi Connie, just found your blog and am enjoying it. This post reminded me of a former coworker who is full Italian and married to a Brit. She used to cook all her pasta sauces from scratch and her husband never fully appreciated them. Then one day she decided to just open a jar of sauce to “teach him a lesson”. He went on and on about how good this sauce was! She is not a bad cook. I’ve tasted her food. She vowed never again to put that much effort in cooking homemade sauce for him again. I say they both lose that battle.
using tomato paste is not really making it from “scratch”…
stef, 38oC.
MikKnits, I think that’s what happens when, as a kid, someone acquires the taste for ready-made everything. or maybe the husband was just mean.
you’re right, lynette. i should have planted the tomatoes, onions, etc. i should have harvested them then cooked them. i should have raised the hog too, salughtered it and cured my own bacon. i should have planted the wheat, harvested and milled the grain and made fresh pasta out of that, huh? then i can claim i made the meal from scratch. literally.
lol! ouch con, did that hurt? sorry, just pointing out the obvious =)
lol@Sassy. I agree with that last one XD Don’t forget pressing the oil yourself (from olives you grew in your yard, of course), and making the cheese from the milk from your very own cow =)
MikKnits, you’re right, they both lost. But I think the husband’s loss was greater. To think he had a wife who actually had the patience for homemade sauces and he preferred the canned kind…tsk, tsk. Ah, different strokes for different folks =)
so was i, lynette, in an ironic sense though.
Great blog, love pasta also.
thanks, jane.
hi! my family loves pasta. my 3 yr. old daughter never likes pasta from jollibee or mcdo. but my tomato based pasta, she can never resist. i’d like to try spanish sardines in corn oil with pasta, do you have a recipe? i also love the pasta margarita of cibo
good for your daughter! i think it’s an acquired taste eh. kids who are used to real home cooked food rarely acquire the taste for lousy fast food.
link to spanish sardines spaghetti
Your title got me too (like Relly). Akala ko naging super creative ka and used panike in a recipe
lol!! as in panic mode pala.
My panic mode pasta sauce, garlic and olive oil. If I have it handy, maybe a sprinkling of flat leaf parsley.
masarap din yung with sardines. I’ve even used ligo in panic mode.
LOL JMom. Madami pala tayong panikera hahaha
Edible ba yung panike? I can imagine my daughters saying, “Eeeewwwwww…!!!”
yup. bats are edible, they are a delicacy in some places. africans even eat their dung (called guano). but i wouldn’t even try eating ‘em.