Italian Pasta Sauces

Common pasta sauces in Northern Italy include pesto and ragù alla bolognese, which usually adds meat to the sauce. In Central Italy, there are simple sauces such as tomato sauce, amatriciana and carbonara. Southern Italian sauces include spicy tomato, garlic, and olive oil, with the pasta often paired with fresh vegetables or seafood. Varieties include puttanesca, pasta alla norma (tomatoes, eggplant and fresh or baked cheese), pasta con le sarde (fresh sardines, pine nuts, fennel and olive oil), spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino (literally with garlic, olive oil and hot chili peppers).

Fettuccine alfredo with cream and Parmesan cheese, and spaghetti with tomato sauce (with or without ground meat or meatballs) are popular Italian-style dishes in the United States.

Olive oil and butter-based sauces

• Briciolata (bread crumbs are sauteed in olive oil until crisp, seasoned with black pepper)
• Pesto (olive oil pureed with raw basil, garlic, and toasted pine nuts)
• Aglio e olio (high-quality olive oil combined with sauteed garlic).
• Burro e salvia (butter and sage sauce) is simply melted butter to which whole sage leaves are added and cooked until crisp

Fresh sauces

• Pasta alla Checca - Checca Sauce is an uncooked tomato sauce made from fresh tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. This sauce originated in Italy, and is mainly prepared in the summer time when the tomatoes are ripe. See Margherita Pasta w/ Grilled Chicken
• Sugo di Pomodoro Fresco is a fresh tomato sauce, good to serve with freshly cooked pasta. It is an uncooked sauce, a simple combination of chopped tomatoes, green onions, garlic, basil, and oregano, with a dash of olive oil. (similar to Checca sauce)
• Italian Salsa Verde is another uncooked sauce. It can be made entirely in a blender or food processor. Fresh bread crumbs (not dried) are soaked in vinegar and then processed with fresh parsley, capers, garlic, and olive oil. Serve this with hot or cold pasta or vegetables.

Dairy-based sauces

• Alfredo Sauce - a common sauce for use with fettuccine noodles to make a dish referred to as fettuccine Alfredo. The sauce consists of heavy cream or half and half that is mixed with butter, grated Parmesan cheese, pepper, and occasionally nutmeg.
• Paglia e Fieno (which translates to "straw and hay," and is made with a combination of peas, cream, and spinach)
• Carbonara, a Roman sauce of eggs, cheese, and bacon. Carbonara Sauce is also often made with cream, eggs, Parmesan cheese, small pieces of bacon and vegetables, such as peas. Although any type of pasta can be used, spaghetti and linguine are most suitable with this sauce. When this sauce is made, it is heated for several minutes until it begins to thicken, then it is tossed with pasta that is very hot, enabling the eggs to continue cooking while the food simmers.
  Also see *Zucchini Carbonara (made with penne shaped pasta)
• Béchamel Sauce - a basic white sauce made by adding hot milk to a white roux (heated butter mixed with flour). The roux thickens the milk into a creamy white sauce which can then be seasoned with additional ingredients depending on the type of dish served with the sauce and the flavors desired. Béchamel is often a key ingredient in lasagne recipes. In Emilia Romagna and Tuscany, lasagna is winter comfort food, made with Sugo alla Bolognese and béchamel sauce, and an abundant dusting of grated cheese before it goes into the oven.
  

Tomato-based sauces

Popular in Bologna in northern Italy and Naples in the south, include tomatoes, wine, broth, garlic, chopped vegetables, and fresh or dried herbs as ingredients.

• Marinara Sauce - a highly seasoned tomato sauce made with garlic and other ingredients, such as onions, parsley and olives. The sauce is used on meats, pasta and pizza.
  For cold weather sauces, replace sweet basil with a handful of hardy rosemary, and during the fall, add mushrooms. Cultivated mushrooms are not as intense as their wild kin, but at the market they are inexpensive, and when cooked with butter, garlic, and crushed red pepper, their subtle meatiness comes out and adds interest to a simple sauce.
• Puttanesca Sauce - a very spicy and strong flavored sauce made with garlic, bits of dried chile peppers, capers, and anchovies as key ingredients. It can be mild or well seasoned depending on the type and amount of spices added, to be served on fish and pasta dishes.
• Salsa Napoletana is a cooked tomato sauce, meant to accompany both pasta and vegetables. Chopped onions, carrots, and celery are sauteed in olive oil, combined with wine and tomatoes, and seasoned with oregano, thyme, and pepper. It is allowed to simmer until very concentrated.
• Arrabbiata Sauce - Arrabbiata is a Roman sauce of garlic, tomatoes, and red chili cooked in olive oil. Basil is sometimes used, although the majority of chefs in Italy do not use the basil for this recipe. The dish is usually served with pasta, chopped fresh parsley sprinkled on top. Italian for “angry,” Arrabbiata is one of the spicier types of tomato sauces made with chile peppers that add a more intense flavor to pasta, meats, poultry, seafood, and other foods such as pizza.
• Madeira Sauce - a wine sauce typically made from Madeira wine and broth, but also with other ingredients that enhance the flavors of the foods topped with the sauce. Madeira sauces are typically used to season pasta, meats, stews, and savory dishes.
• Marsala Sauce - made from a variety of flavored bases such as tomatoes, mushrooms, or fruit flavors to be served as a sauce for several traditional food dishes such as pollo (chicken) marsala or veal marsala. A typical recipe for the sauce may include onions, garlic, herbs, mushrooms, heavy cream, oil or butter, and the key ingredient, Marsala wine, which is often used as a demiglaze, or added last.
• Vodka Sauce - a creamy textured pasta sauce that goes well with penne, ravioli, rigatonni, tortellini, or ziti pasta as well as on some poultry dishes or bruschetta appetizers. Rich in flavor, this sauce typically contains tomatoes, cream, vodka, olive oil, garlic, onions, and seasonings. Parmesan, pecorino or romano cheese and meats such as prosciutto are also additional ingredients that may be included in some vodka sauces.
• Pasta Primavera usually consists of pasta with red tomato sauce and fresh vegetables. A meat such as chicken, sausage or shrimp can be added if desired, but the focus of primavera is the vegetables themselves. Any array desired can be added, but cooks tend to stick to firm, crisp vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, peas, onions and green bell peppers. Refreshing and low in fat, pasta primavera is usually highlighted by light flavors, aromatic spices and bright colors ('primavera' meaning spring, the season). Classic primavera is supported by the 'classic' Italian mirepoix of garlic, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. Pastas served with this dish are typically smaller shapes, such as penne, farfalle, rigatoni and fusilli. If using longer types of spaghetti such as fettuccine, vegetables should be sliced in thin strips to match the texture of the noodles.

Ragùs (rah-GOO)

Sometimes called sugos - A ragù is a meat-based sauce. The Italian word derives from the French ragoût, from the verb ragoûter, “to revive the taste.” A ragù is usually made by adding meat to a soffritto, a mixture of chopped onions, celery, carrots and seasonings (garlic and fresh herbs such as parsley or sage), that is partially fried in olive oil. (A soffritto is the progenitor of the French concept of the mirepoix.) It is then simmered for a long time with tomato sauce. Ragù can be made with any meat or game. Ragù alla bolognese (sometimes known as Bolognese sauce) is made with ground pork, beef and pancetta. Ragù alla Napoletana (Neapolitan ragù) includes sliced beef, raisins and pine nuts.

Typical Italian ragù include:

• Ragù alla Bolognese (also known as Bolognese sauce) - made from ingredients that can cook for longer periods of time, a ragù traditionally includes bits or minced beef cooked with chicken livers and unsmoked pancetta which is combined with tomato purée, mushrooms if desired, onions, celery, olive oil, seasonings, cheese, and white wine. Today other ingredients are also added to make a tomato based red sauce or a cheese based white sauce. The people of Bologna traditionally serve their famous ragù with freshly made tagliatelle (tagliatelle alla bolognese). Less traditionally, the sauce is served with rigatoni or used as the stuffing for lasagne or cannelloni.
• Neapolitan Ragù (Ragù alla Napoletana) - like its equivalent in Bologna, is also made from three main parts: a soffritto, meat, and tomato sauce. However, a major difference is how the meats are used. Bolognese version uses very finely chopped meat, while the Neapolitan version uses whole meat, taking it from the casserole when cooked and serving it as a second course or with pasta. Milk or cream is not used, and a relative abundance of tomato sauce in flavour, in contrast to Bolognese taste, is preferred. Neapolitan ragù is very similar to and may be ancestral to the Italian-American "Sunday gravy".
• Ragù alla Barese

High or low in fat, Italian sauces are meant to be used sparingly, to merely coat or "kiss" the pasta or vegetables. Traditionally, sauces are concentrated in flavor, meant to impart lots of zest with a small amount of volume. Sauce should be spooned lightly or tossed with pasta or vegetables right before serving, to showcase the texture of the pasta and the flavor of the sauce.

It's important to remember that the sauce should match the shape of the pasta. Each shape goes well with particular types of sauce. Spaghetti goes well with creamy or tomato-based sauce, while thinner pastas, such as vermicelli, linguine, and angel hair are better suited for olive oil-based sauces. Both thick and thin pastas go well with strongly flavored sauces, such as a tomato sauce flavored with garlic or red pepper flakes. Tube pastas, such as ziti, rigatoni, or penne go well with thick sauces, such as a tomato and vegetable sauce. Filled pastas, such as gnocchi, ravioli, and tortellini, need to have the sauce complement the filling; light sauces complement delicately flavored ravioli, and heavier sauces can keep up with heartier pastas. For example, a basil-and-garlic-filled ravioli goes well with a salsa verde, while an Alfredo sauce goes well with a tofu-and-walnut-filled tortellini.