Top Uses for Pasta Sauce Besides Pasta

What You’ll Need:

3 to 5 pounds chuck roast

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon each: salt, pepper, garlic powder

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)

3 carrots, peeled and chopped (about 1 cup)

3 celery ribs, chopped (about 1 cup)

4 - 6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup red wine

1 (24 ounce) can pasta sauce

1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian style diced tomatoes

Mashed potatoes or polenta for serving, optional Chopped parsley, optional garnish

Here’s How:

In a small bowl, mix flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Sprinkle the flour mixture evenly over the roast. In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the meat and brown well on all sides. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium-low. Add the onions, carrots and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Then add the wine, scraping all the lovely, browned bits off the bottom of the pan, and cook until it reduces a little, about 5 minutes. Add the pasta sauce and canned tomato and stir to combine. Then return the roast to the pot and cover. Turn the heat down to low and let it simmer gently for 2 to 3 hours, until fork tender.

When finished cooking, transfer the meat to a chopping board and let rest for about 10 minutes before slicing. If the sauce isn’t thick enough for your liking, you can continue boiling over medium-high heat, uncovered, until it reduces enough to reach your desired thickness. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cut the roast into gorgeous big chunks and return to the sauce to serve.

Some of these recipes don’t use the entire can of sauce. You can easily freeze extra sauce for future fun recipes by placing the sauce in ice cube trays or muffin tins, then freeze and store in plastic freezer bags.

By C. Bary Ingerson

When I was growing up, there was no Julia Child, no Food Network, and TV dinners were just starting to be accepted. Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines were the only two magazines dealing with regional foods, but neither was readily available. Ethnic food to most people meant French or Italian.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a multicultural neighborhood in New Jersey, so my love of ethnic food developed early. Our local grocery store stocked yoghurt and halvah at a time when most of the country hadn’t heard of either. In the cool months, our grocery’s produce section had kohlrabi, fennel, and kumquats. There were always fresh ginger and fresh bean sprouts available, as well as cardamom and coriander in the spice section. Thanks to my friends and neighbors, I was already an adventurous eater - trying new dishes and spices from multiple heritages — Eastern European, Mediterranean, Scandinavian, Indian, and Asian. Soon, I also became an adventurous cook.

The Challenge — Finding Ingredients

It wasn’t until I traveled to other parts of the country for school and work during the 70’s and 80’s that I realized most groceries carried only a tiny sampling of international food products. It’s better now that more and more flavors and cuisines have been introduced to us. But even 20 years ago, most regional spices and foodstuffs were only found in ethnic or specialty markets. I developed the habit of locating these markets in every town to which I moved so I could prepare the ethnic dishes I loved. Here’s the good news — we have several really good international markets in the local area.