How to escape jarred pasta sauce; or as we like to call it, gravy.

My friends on Facebook were complaining and raving about the pictures I post of my dinners. Some said, "Hey, I love the food posts." So I posted more. Then the responses grew more along the lines of, "HEY! Stop posting so much food. Your making me hungry!" So I vowed to stop posting food, but then a childhood friend suggested, "How about you post the recipe with the pics so we can make our own. In all your pics the food always looks so good." By the way, thank you for that compliment Andrea.

That got me wondering; yes, the food I put up does look good because I choose what food to post. Trust me, there have been many a burned fritatta or blobs that were supposed to be cookies but turned into, well, blobs. But that's the fun in it for me; always learning how to do it better. I love to cook and have been perfecting the art for thirty years, no lie. I started when I was ten; I would baby-sit my younger brother until our Mom came home from work. She would always got in late and then proceed to make a home cooked meal for us every night. We would whine and complain and most of the time not eat until eight or eight-thirty but, the meals she prepared, well they would be big plates of bragiole in a brown gravy with mushrooms and mashed potatoes or Italian sausage stuffed melrose peppers. Most of the time we had pasta in a marinara. It was easy to make and very filling. But never, and I mean never, did my mother open a jar of Ragu. It was home made every time.

One day, when I was ten, I decided to surprise my mother and make dinner. It would be ready for her when she got home and, best of all, the good deed would most likely get me out of doing the dishes that night. So, I walked to the store, got my ingredients and made my first gravy (sauce for you haters). It turned out good, so good I used an entire loaf of bread to sop it up and my mother didn't come home to a wonderful home cooked meal. Instead she came home to a very messy kitchen and her ten year old daughter laying on the sofa moaning from stomach pains. Needless to say, I have been perfecting my marinara sauce for thirty years. And, actually, I make all kinds. But, for today's blog, we will stick with the basic marinara that your would find in my refrigerator. Honestly, there is typically always a container of home-made marinara sauce in my fridge. I use it for so many things. But, that will be the subject of another blog. Today, we will focus on one meal that's easy to make and good for you.

Pasta Marinara

and Broccoli Salad with Garlic, Lemon and Olive Oil

If at all possible steam your broccoli the night before or early that morning while you are having coffee so that the broccoli is cold. If you have no other choice and must cook it that night, just start as soon as you get home and when it's done drain it quickly and put it in a bowl with cold ice water. That will stop it from cooking. Place it in the refrigerator or freezer. Just a warning though, if you choose the freezer keep checking it. It can freeze fast too.

Cut the bottom of your broccoli, wash it, pull all the leaves off. Then, in a large sauce pan fill just the bottom 1/5 or 1/4 with water. Cover it and steam your broccoli on a medium to medium-low flame. Broccoli is done when it turns dark green. Put a fork in it occasionally to check the consistency. You don't want to over cook it; that makes it mushy.

Marinara

Must haves

• large can of tomatoes (crushed for smooth sauce or whole for chunky)
• fresh basil (a lot!)
• one med red potato or large carrot
• garlic (I use four large cloves per can, but I am a garlic freak)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• one medium gravy pan

The first thing you want to do, before anything else, is open your can of tomatoes and put them into a bowl. I prefer a smooth thick gravy so that requires crushed tomatoes. If you prefer a chunky style then use a can of whole tomatoes. With your hands, squeeze and mash the tomatoes until the chunks are at a size you like.

(A note here. If you are using the whole tomato method then you shouldn't have to add much water; they are pretty watery on their own. If you use the crushed tomato method adding the equivalent of one can of water should suffice.)

Rinse the sides of the can with water and get all the tomatoes that might be sticking to the sides. Put the tomatoes aside. The reason we do this first is because when you are sauteing the garlic in olive oil you have to be standing over it watching. If you wait to open the can after the garlic is sauteing you risk burning the garlic and if the garlic burns you have to start all over again. Burned garlic will ruin your gravy.

Wash the basil. If you want it in smaller pieces then just put the leaves inside one another and then roll them into a tube and start slicing from one end to the other until you have basil strips. Personally, I like them to be big so I just wash them and throw them in the tomatoes.

Peal your garlic. As I said, I adore garlic; so much I would never consider dating a man who doesn't. I just don't see how that would possibly work out.

I use four large cloves per can but that is potent. If you prefer a more moderate garlic taste then use two. I would stay away from only using one unless you really hate garlic. One won't do much of anything. Besides, if you hate garlic, chances are you won't enjoy my foodie blog.

In a medium sauce pan put 2 -3 tablespoons of olive oil. Then crush the garlic into the olive oil. Don't put the heat on yet; garlic burns easy and I cannot emphasize enough that burned garlic will ruin your sauce. I like to take the extras out of the garlic press, chop it and put it in there as well, but, as I keep saying, "GARLIC FREAK!!"

Now put on the heat; a low flame. Not super low but not really at medium. With a spoon, I prefer the wooden kind, stir the garlic as it sautes. Watch it careful, don't let it brown at all. If it browns then, well, I won't repeat myself.

When the garlic is looking a little soft add the tomatoes and basil. Rinse out the bowl and add those tomatoes as well. The more water you add the longer it takes to thicken so if you don't like a watery gravy be aware of how much water you are adding.

Once the tomatoes and basil are in the pan, wash the potato or carrot off and then cut it up in pieces about 2-3 inches thick. The potato or carrot is how we pull the acidity out of the tomatoes. If you don't use something to pull out the acidity then your sauce will be ______ (fill in the blank).

Over the years I have found many methods of pulling the acid out of the tomatoes. Some cooks like to use a touch of baking soda. I'm not a fan of the way it makes the sauce taste. Another method is adding sugar but I found that just sweetens up the sauce opposed to pulling out the acid. If you prefer a sweet sauce, by all means, add some sugar, but still use the potato or carrot method to ease up the tartness. Sweet sauces and non sweet as well as thick or chunky are all a matter of taste. (FYI The word sauce is used excessively in this paragraph because the fact is that's what most people call it. In my heart, it will always be gravy.)

Put the potato or carrot pieces in the sauce. Add your salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a slow boil and let cook on a low heat until the potato or carrot pieces are cooked enough that you can put a fork in them and easily pull it out. At that point the sauce is done and ready for pasta

Now you may be wondering, "What is it with all this potato OR carrot thing she keeps talking about?" Well, I never use both but I found that both work. The only difference is if you use a potato, pull it out once you can remove the fork from it otherwise the potato will break up and lighten the color of your gravy. A carrot won't do that.

While your marinara is cooking is the time to get the broccoli salad ready.

Broccoli Salad with garlic (surprise!), lemon and olive oil

Must haves

• Broccoli (preferably steamed and chilled)
• One juicy lemon or two not-so-juicy lemons
• 4-6 cloves of garlic (I use 6)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Oregano

Cut the broccoli into pieces that you feel are sufficient. Just a warning, you cut it too small the tree tops break up and it's not as pretty looking.

I like to toss salads in BIG bowls. Just pouring dressings over the top never works out well. Some parts have dressing; others don't; it's complete anarchy. Press your garlic over the broccoli and then toss it in the bowl. If you don't have fresh garlic which, shocker here, does happen in my house on occasion, use garlic powder. But don't mistake me, nothing beats fresh garlic.

Next, add some salt and pepper to taste. Toss the salad. Add some oregano. Toss the sald. Add a touch of olive oil and toss. When I say "a touch of olive oil" I mean enough to coat the broccoli but don't drown it. Salads were not meant to swim in dressings. If that were the case then they would be born with little arms and legs. Next add the juice of one lemon. You should juice the lemon in a bowl before hand to remove any seeds. Then do you know what to do? You got it! Toss the salad.

I like to toss after each spice or ingredient is added; it coats the salad more thoroughly. Taste it. If you like it more tart add the juice of another lemon.

Pasta

This part is completely up to you. I prefer rigatoni; I'm not sure why I just always did. There are so many types of pasta out there I highly doubt anyone would have trouble finding what they prefer. Just remember this, the longer and thinner the pasta (capellini or linguine) the more gravy it soaks up.

Bring your water to a boil. A good way to get that going is to add some salt to the water. About a tablespoon for a pound of pasta. Once the water is boiling add your pasta. I'm sure everyone has heard the term al dente. That term translates literally to, "to the tooth". It is the only way to eat pasta; there's not much worse than mushy macaroni.

A great way to always have al dente pasta is to eat the whole wheat kind. When whole wheat pasta is over cooked, it breaks up but always has a bite to it.

But if you are a traditionalist then just continually stir and sample the pasta until it is cooked the way you like it.

Then, mangia! Mangia mi amici!!

I will leave you with the immortal words of my Grandma, who used to tell me when I was eating pasta at her house on Sundays. "Camille, what's better than one dish of macaroni?" I'd smile with my fork in my hand, "Two dishes of macaroni!!"