Italian Sauces
A good sauce is the heart of Italian home cooking. Some simmer for hours, like a rich meat ragù or vegetable pomarola, while others are ready in the time it takes to cook the pasta.
These are the sauces we make most often in our cooking lessons in Tuscany: fresh basil pesto and arugula pesto, ragù, pomarola and sugo finto, a simple tomato and basil sauce, puttanesca, porcini sauce, zucchini, artichoke and asparagus sauces, lemon sauce, butter and sage sauce for gnocchi, and salsa verde to serve with boiled meats or on crostini.
Arugula pesto: a fresh, peppery pasta sauce in 10 minutes
Lemon pasta sauce: zesty, buttery and ready in 25 minutes
Light asparagus and ricotta pasta sauce
Asparagus is available for only a very short season. We love it and try to eat it in as many ways as possible before the long wait for the next harvest.
Pasta with zucchini and ricotta: a quick, creamy summer sauce
Pasta with zucchini and ricotta: browned courgettes, garlic, fresh basil and creamy ricotta. A quick vegetarian summer pasta, ready in 20 minutes.
Salsa verde crostini: Tuscan green sauce with parsley and capers
Crostini are little appetizers that you can invent yourself depending on what’s in season and what you have in the house. Salsa verde is a tangy herby sauce often served to accompany boiled meats, but delicious in its own right.
Fresh basil pesto: how to make it and serve it with pasta
In the summer, nothing beats the pungent, aromatic flavours and satisfying texture of a home-made pesto sauce.
Butter and sage sauce with cream, for gnocchi and ravioli
This sauce is perfect to enhance the subtle flavours of homemade pasta, ravioli and gnocchi.
Fresh porcini mushroom pasta sauce with garlic and parsley
Fresh porcini are wonderfully aromatic and just melt in your mouth.
Pasta alla puttanesca: quick sauce with olives, capers and chili
This is a great, quick pasta sauce to make while your pasta is cooking. The ingredients are typical of Southern Italy and it apparently became popular in the 1960s.
Tuscan ragù: slow-cooked meat sauce with vegetables and sage
There are dozens of versions of ragù which are favourites in different regions of Italy. During our cooking classes in Tuscany, we teach this Tuscan version (using not much tomato).
Pomarola: Tuscan tomato sauce with onion, carrot and celery
This is a good alternative to a classic tomato and basil sauce. It has more texture and a more subtle, less tart flavour.Great with potato gnocchi, pasta, or any recipe that calls for a tomato-based sauce.
Quick fresh tomato and basil pasta sauce
During our cooking vacations in Italy, we teach you various tomato sauces, some that are packed with tasty vegetables and some that have a purer tomato taste. This simple sauce relies on good, tasty, ripe tomatoes, fresh basil and a good olive oil.
Artichoke pasta sauce with tomato, white wine and chili
Artichokes can seem daunting - what to do with all those leaves??!! But once you have conquered the fear, this nutritious and delicious vegetable will become a favourite.
Simple zucchini pasta sauce with Parmesan and basil
When the zucchini glut is upon us, we have this a couple of times a week. It’s light but fragrant and satisfying.
Sugo finto: a Tuscan meatless ragù with vegetables and red wine
This is a poor man’s meat sauce: the vegetables are cut finely to simulate a ground beef texture and the result is very tasty indeed.