Pasta is one of those foods that is in everyones house, but tends to sit in a jar at the back of the cupboard, reserved for those days before the weekly shop when all the fresh food has been eaten. We've put together a list of the easiest and most delicious pasta sauce recipes so you've always got a quick, simple and yummy meal planned.

For Italians, the classic pasta sauce is a tomato one. Served with penne pasta and a big hunk of beef on the bone, which flakes away into the sauce as it cooks is just perfect. In Italy things are often cooked slowly and on a low heat, in a big ceramic crock pot. In the UK and US we associate slow cooking with chucking every ingredient into a pot a stewing it. The opposite is true for Italians; they often use just three or four ingredients in their sauces, broths and stews but manage to make them heavenly to taste as well. So, for your tomato based sauce you should first start off by frying a thickly chopped onion in 2 tbsp olive oil on a low heat for about half an hour (or until soft). Next, add two cloves of garlic, roughly chopped, and two tins of chopped tomatoes. The best pot to use for this is a very deep stainless steel one, or alternatively a ceramic casserole pot. Season with salt, pepper and a little basil/oregano (whichever you prefer), cover and keep on a very low heat, so that you see one or two bubbles every few seconds. Leave this to cook for around four hours before serving. As the Italians do, you can add a joint of meat to the sauce when you add the tomatoes so that it flakes apart and you have a meal with meat in it too. Turn the sauce into bolognese by adding beef mince and letting it cook with the sauce for four hours.

If you're in a rush but still want to eat a hearty meal then pasta is ideal. Simply boil it until cooked and in a separate pan heat up 3 tbsp milk and a tbsp of cream cheese with chives or garlic (this can usually be found in grocery stores). Add shallow fried prawns when you serve it, or simply add some peas to the pasta 3 minutes before it is ready to be drained if you are vegetarian. This may not be an authentic Italian pasta sauce recipe but it's certainly one that's tasty and filling.

If you want a simple and authentic Italian meal then you can enjoy al dente spaghetti with olive oil sauce, one finely chopped tomato, salt, pepper and parsley. This dish goes perfectly with muscles, cooked still in their shells and while you may be thinking olive oil with seasoning is too plain, it's absolutely delicious. Cook your pasta and drain but leave a small amount of water (so it moved around in the pain easily and doesn't stick to the sides. Add a glug of olive oil, your diced tomato and a few sprigs of parsley. Simply mix it around on a low heat before adding your already cooked muscles and enjoy!

Stan Tian

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