Favorite Sauces

Basic Teriyaki Sauce

1/4C soy sauce

1/4 C mirin

1/4 C sugar in the raw

Stir and bring to a boil in a small sauce pan.

Once it boils let it cool. It will thicken once it cools.

Optional:

1-2 pieces of fresh lemon zest - just mix in with other ingredients before heating up.

Dumpling Sauce

1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

1/4 Cup Mirin

1/4 Cup Water

1 TBS Sesame oil

1-2 cloves of garlic, diced fine

1 TBS of fresh ginger, diced fine

optional: some hot red pepper (of your choice)

Just mix and go. Our grocery store has pretty good fresh dumplings for $6 a box which makes a nice light & inexpensive lunch that feels fancy. Making your own dumplings is not that hard either, but they are addicting so use caution.

Pasta Sauce, aka "Mr Pampel's sauce"

1 box of Pomi strained tomatoes

1 TBS butter

1 TBS Olive oil

1 TBS Brown sugar (semi-optional!)

1-2 TBS of diced onion

1/2 TSP of each Parsley, Oregano & Basil or sub 1 TSP of some good fresh pesto

Salt and pepper to taste

This is really quick and easy to make. The sugar may offend purists, but it wins with kids every time.

The Parmalat crushed Italian tomatoes are really good. I grew plumb tomatoes in our garden one year, bought a grinder, seeded them, crushed them and then cooked them down for hours. I did the whole thing from scratch and it tasted almost identical; so now I buy the box!

* Sometimes I will put onion, carrot and celery in a food processor and dice it very fine and saute it all in the butter & oil. The carrot and onion lend some sweetness to the sauce. To be more authentic or for adults, you can skip the brown sugar and the onion and carrot will usually be enough sweetness. Sub a can of San Marzano tomatoes for the Pomi to go "next level".

1. Add oil and butter to sauce pan and melt over medium heat

2. add diced onion and cook until translucent

3. add Pomi tomatoes

4. Add spices

5. Let it simmer slowly for 5-10 minutes, or while dealing with your pasta. (boiling the water and cooking it) be sure to stire it & cover it unless you want splatters everywhere.

6. Fix with salt and pepper towards the end

To be authentic mix the sauce in the pan with your drained pasta.