The Three Vital Ingredients for Quick and Easy Italian Food

If you are like me and love Italian food but don't have the time or know how to make authentic Italian food, I will show you a few easy ways to have great taste on a budget and that real Italian taste from your grocery store. The three most important ingredients in Italian cooking are pasta, tomato sauce and, cheese. It is vital that these three key ingredients are premium quality if nothing else. It would be nice to have imported olive oil and authentic Italian spices but like I said, if your key ingredients are good, the meal will be good. Sure, home made pasta is the best but is time consuming, messy and sometimes just flat out hard. When purchasing pasta I suggest the brand "Barilla" and stay away from those bargain brands!

Is 40 or 50 cents worth trading for taste? Always cook the pasta "al dente" which means firm yet tender for best results. Just because tomato sauce is in a can does not mean that it's bad. Go for a relatively affordable name brand and make it your own. You can add basil, pepper, garlic, onion, rosemary or any other spice you like to your taste. Also, adding a little bit of red wine to the sauce if you're so inclined can make a once bland sauce exciting. You can add Italian Sausage or any other meat you enjoy too, the point is to be creative yet simple. When selecting cheese, obviously Mozzarella is synonymous with Italian food but people's tastes vary.

Try to stay away from shredded cheeses as they tend to be dry or overly processed and opt for block cheese instead which is usually fresher and per pound is actually cheaper than pre shredded cheese. Consider what you want to make and match the cheese to that. Ham & Swiss, Bologna & American, Roast Beef & Cheddar, these are traditionally paired together because they compliment each other which is what you want your cheese to do.