FOOD NEWS
Kick Pasta Sauce Up A Few Notches With One Unexpected Spice
By Jessica Fleming-Montoya
If you love topping your pasta with a simple marinara or a hearty ragu, there's one ingredient that can add an extra punch of flavor to your tomato sauce: fresh ginger.
The spice adds just a smidge of fire, giving that sensation of heat without going overboard. The trick is to use fresh ginger, as it has a more pungent and astringent flavor.
Just a walnut-sized piece of peeled, chopped, fresh ginger for every 7 ounces of canned tomatoes should give you the punch you're looking for without overpowering your sauce.
Ginger works well in tomato sauce because its slight heat adds warmth, and its alkalinity also offsets the acidity of the tomatoes for a better balance.
You may also find that ginger has woody and earthy qualities that complement the earthy spices in your tomato sauce recipe, such as oregano or parsley.