My goal is to eat pasta for most of the dinners I have during the week, and I plan to do so as soon as I enter my apartment. My question is how to make tomato pasta sauce taste better. Of course, the most significant accomplishment would be to get inside the house while gnawing on some pasta (or, if angels have descended, to find mac and cheese on the table when you get home). In most cases, I make do with homemade marinara sauce, which requires approximately half an hour to prepare: While the water is heating to a boil, you should change into some new clothes. While the noodles are cooking, sauté the greens with the garlic that has just been minced. To the greens that have been sautéed, add the pasta, along with a liberal helping of pecorino, some olive oil, and some fresh herbs. On the other hand, in order to cut down on the amount of time it took to open the door to eat pasta, my parents made use of the microwave and a jar of marinara sauce that was always kept in the refrigerator. After you have heated the sauce in the microwave or on the stovetop, depending on how fancy you are feeling, combine it with the pasta that has been cooked, and then calm the hungry children. Even though I've been warned about it, I don't always keep a jar of store-bought "spaghetti sauce" on hand in my kitchen pantry. This is the quickest way to get a bowl of noodles covered in a red sauce at the end of a long day. It's a faster alternative to the traditional method of reducing canned tomatoes with onions, fresh garlic, olive oil, and red wine. 
However, a light shaking is often required to bring out the full range of flavor and maintain the maximum level of freshness in most jarred sauces. There are, in point of fact, some jars of tomato sauce that are superior to others. Try to locate sauces that do not contain added sugar, and make sure to use whole tomatoes. The following are Cook's Illustrated's top recommendations: Regarding our personal group, we are all in agreement that Rao's is, without a doubt, the best marinara sauce sold in a jar. The editorial assistant Lucy Simon, the editorial director Margaret eBay, and the staff writer Kelly Vaughan are also members of the team. However, the distinction that Lucy noted is extremely important: "It has to be marinara and not the tomato basil sauce." Even if the spaghetti sauce you bought in a jar wasn't entirely handmade, you might simply improve its flavor by following this straightforward procedure. The flavor can be concentrated by cooking your ready-made pasta sauce for longer until some of the water evaporates, and the sauce becomes thicker and more tomato-like. While your noodles are cooking and your sauce is getting warmer, allow your sauce to simmer on the stovetop for at least ten to twenty minutes. You also have the option of pouring the sauce into a Dutch oven or baking dish and then roasting it at a temperature of 300 degrees Fahrenheit while stirring it occasionally. It is necessary to warm the sauce before combining it with the pasta, even if doing so would increase the total amount of time needed for cooking by a few minutes. Unless, of course, you follow the worst piece of cooking advice ever given to me by my father, which is that you can mix cold pasta sauce with hot pasta. 
Marcella Hazan recommends making the sauce in a pressure cooker by adding an onion that has been cut in half as well as a few tablespoons of butter. This is an optional step that can be taken if you want to go above and beyond or if you have an obsession with your Instant Pot. Try adding a dollop or two of tomato paste, which is simply tomatoes that have been extremely concentrated, if your sauce needs more oomph, but you don't have time to simmer it. Tomato paste is simply tomatoes that have been extremely concentrated. To fully extract the flavor of the tomato paste before incorporating it into the sauce, you should first sauté it in heated olive oil. This will earn you bonus points. In addition, if you want a little bit of a kick, you can add some red pepper flakes to the oil. This will earn you extra points. Check the spice cabinet and the container you use to store condiments if the flavor of your sauce is lacking in complexity and depth. You could also begin by opening your pantry or refrigerator to get things going. Choose the mix of fiery flavors (Sriracha, gochujang, cayenne, harissa, horseradish), smoky flavors (smoked paprika, sliced chipotles in adobo), roasted flavors (red peppers, Calabrian chiles), and fruity flavors that you enjoy the most (chipotles in adobo). Always make sure to taste what you're making before things go out of hand. 
Tomato pasta sauce taste
Add a Parmesan or pecorino rind while the mixture is simmering to make the tomato pasta sauce better. A cheese rind, which is typically thrown away, can add salt and taste to a pot of plain beans and can enliven a pot of bland tomato sauce by being added to the pot. Throw in an onion that has been chopped in half while you're at it. It is recommended that you store your pram rinds in the freezer (just wrap them up really well and store them in an airtight container). You will always have access to the rind whenever you feel the need to give a jar of store-bought tomato sauce a little something extra. Pass the anchovies; they add that certain something to the dish. When the anchovies have started to disintegrate into nothing, add some garlic cloves that have been smashed, if you have any, to the pan along with some olive oil that has been heated, and then add your jar of tomato sauce. If you want to call me crazy, I've been known to eliminate the anchovies and replace them with a dash of soy sauce and a drizzle of fish sauce. Call me whatever you want, but I've been known to do this. Utilize vegetables that have already been sautéed in a pan. Before heating the sauce, the vegetables should be sautéed until they begin to brown. This step comes before the heating of the sauce. Despite the fact that mirepoix, which is composed of celery, carrots, and onions, and a few handfuls of sliced mushrooms work wonderfully, I typically stick to the fundamentals of onion and garlic. In addition, if you deglaze the pan with wine or stock rather than water, you won't be able to remove any of the caramelized residues. Try biting into some of the garlic. At least some of the sauces that are sold in stores often contain garlic, but the flavor is frequently watered down during processing and storage. To intensify the flavor of the garlic, sauté a few cloves of minced or pressed garlic in olive oil for just a few moments before adding the sauce. 
While the sauce is cooking, mash a few cloves of roasted garlic and stir them into the sauce to give it a deeper, more complex flavor. To make things more interesting, add some acid to the mixture. You may try adding lemon juice, capers, chopped olives, or vinegar made from red wine or apple cider, or vinegar made from apple cider. Use only the lemon zest if the sauce already has a sufficient amount of acidity; this is true of many types purchased from stores. Add it in at the very end of the cooking process so that you can keep as much of its vibrant freshness as possible. Add a touch of sugar if you want things to taste sweeter. If the canned tomato sauce you're using is too acidic, you might find it easier to swallow the medication if you add a sprinkle or two of sugar to it first. Jarred sauces have the potential to make you pucker up on occasion because they do not possess the desirable balance of a homemade sauce. To ensure that the final product is of the highest quality, gradually incorporate granulated sugar into the sauce as it heats up. Do this by adding a pinch at a time and stirring it in before tasting it. It is best to steer clear of using brown sugar and powdered sugar in this recipe because they will contribute flavors that compete with one another. Olives and capers infuse tomato sauce with a burst of briny flavor and give the sauce its unique character. After warming the sauce for a few minutes, stir in some chopped or whole olives that have been pitted, as well as a handful of capers that have been drained. 
Alternately, you might add the garlic or the vegetables to the sauté just before you add the sauce to it if you are going to add them. In addition to being suitable for vegetarians, the saltiness they contribute is analogous to that of anchovies. Basil! Please, may I have basil? You'll find a lot of "basil leaves" swimming around in jars that you buy from supermarkets, and they look like this: Because they are so dark, slimy, and reminiscent of seaweed, it is difficult to imagine that these were ever a part of a basil plant in the first place. The issue can be remedied by including freshly torn basil near the conclusion of the process of heating the sauce. This will ensure that the sauce maintains its brilliant green color while the aroma of the basil permeates the entire container. We warmly welcome butter and all other forms of dairy products. To make your sauce luxurious and lavish, finish it off with a pat of butter, a splash of milk or coconut cream, or a tablespoon of yogurt, crème Fraiche, or sour cream. To taste, add some olive oil of a good grade and whisk it in. Just before you serve the dish, add a splash to the sauce to give it a richness and sheen that is similar to butter but does not require the addition of any dairy products. In particular, the olive oils produced by Brightline, Katerina, and Colossus are among our favorites; you can get all three of these brands at the Food Shop. It's loaded with cheese. Drab tomato sauce can be improved by the addition of acidic richness provided by soft goat cheese or even simple cream cheese. 
Additionally, the addition of a tablespoon of ricotta or mascarpone provides a somewhat sweet creaminess to the sauce. When freshly grated Parmesan cheese is put on top of any portion of spaghetti, the dish instantly becomes more elegant, and the flavor becomes more umami. Make it savory. You can give your sauce some flavorful protein and structure by incorporating red meat into the mixture. This will also give your sauce some structure. Tomato sauce is delicious when combined with ground beef, pork, or lamb, as well as crumbled Italian sausage (either mild or hot for those who like a little heat). Before adding the tomato sauce and allowing it to simmer while the pasta is cooking, the ground beef should be browned in a skillet, broken up with a wooden spoon, and any excess oil or fat should be drained off. Please use the water that came with the pasta. We will never stop praising the benefits of using pasta water. The starchy and salty water acts as a natural thickening and will improve the consistency of the spaghetti sauce that comes in a can. Do not pour a bucketful of starchy water into the dish, but rather only one large drop. This will assist in ensuring that the sauce adheres to the noodles (but you knew that already).