Have you ever felt disappointed after buying a jar of expensive pasta sauce to serve? I certainly have!

I’ve found two pasta sauces that haven’t disappointed me so far. Prego Traditional Italian Sauce and Trader Giotto’s Tomato Basil Marinara are both great bases to start with for your sauce. I, however, like to add my own twists to take it up a notch!

This sauce a family favorite! It makes the house smell like you’ve been simmering this all day long.

I like to serve this with home baked garlic bread, which is also included in this recipe, and a simple salad to make a complete meatless meal.

Ingredients

Pasta sauce

• 1 24 oz. jar Prego Traditional Italian Sauce (or preferred sauce)
• 1/3 cup water to rinse pasta jar
• 1/2 tsp each salt, sugar, dried oregano, dried basil, chili flakes
• 1 tbsp. canola oil
• 3 tbsp. heavy cream
• 1/2 lbs. long spaghetti pasta, cooked according to package directions

Garlic bread

• 6 slices of classic Italian bread
• 4 tbsp. soften unsalted butter
• 2 tsp. mince garlic
• 1 tbsp. minced fresh parsley or 1 tsp. dried
• 1/8 tsp. each salt and pepper

Garnish

• Freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Fresh basil

Instructions

Pasta sauce

Once I pour out my tomato sauce, I put 1/3 cup of water into the pasta jar and twist back on the lid. I then shake it to mix the rest of the sauce with water. After that, I pour the tomato water back into my saucepan. Every drop of sauce counts!

Mix all ingredients in a medium sized sauce pan. Slowly bring the mixture to simmer, stirring often. Once sauce is heated through, serve with your favorite pasta.

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions. Add salt to the water and 1 tbsp. canola oil to the pasta water. This will prevent the pasta from sticking to each other.

Garlic bread

Mix butter, garlic, fresh parsley, with salt and pepper in a small bowl with a rubber spatula until fluffy. Place bread in a parchment lined baking sheet, butter the top of the bread with the mixture. Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 to 7 minutes or until edges of bread turns light brown and toasted.

To serve

Divide the pasta into pasta bowl, top with desired amount of sauce, then sprinkle parmesan cheese and basil.

Serves 3

Did you make this dish? I’d love to know how it turns out! Feel free to like this post and comment or use the hashtag #globaldinein on Instagram. If you would to be notified of upcoming posts, please consider subscribing to my blog!