If I am making a meat sauce, I start with some pork...like a chop or a small pork steak brown it in a little olive oil a Dutch oven, as its browning I chop a good big onion, or 2 smaller ones and a green pepper, Add the veggies to the pot along with 3 to 5 cloves of garlic, depending on how big the cloves are. When the onion has softened, add: 3 24 oz cans of good whole Italian plum tomatoes and 3 6 oz cans of Contadina tomato paste ( other brands are bitter!) Fill one of the tomato paste cans with a dry red wine and add to the pot, and fill the other 2 cans with water and add that to the pot. Add: A handful of fresh basil....about 1/4 cup chopped, and A handful of flat leaf parsley about 1/4 cup chopped, and 2 T fresh oregano leaves....and Fresh ground pepper, about 3/4 of a teaspoon....about 6 grinds of my Greek mill. And" 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese. For this it really isn't necessary to use the "good stuff" because what you want from the cheese is the buffering the acidity of the tomatoes. Add the good stuff to each plate as you serve it. while the sauce is simmering...VERY slowly... make meatballs to put into it....I bake the meatballs and add them to the sauce pot, and simmer another hour. I also make a simple pomo d'oro sauce using fresh tomatoes. I sautee a big onion and half a green pepper in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, add a couple of cloves of chopped garlic and about 2 quarts of peeled and cut up fresh tomatoes, a small handful of fresh basil and another of chopped parsley.....cook at a fairly fast boil until thick enough for you about 20 minutes. I use a big fry pan for this....salt to taste....it will take a fair amount as you have not used any canned products nor cheese. Linda C

Two more for your perusal: GREEK PASTA SALAD 1 lb. medium-size shell or other short pasta (4 cups) Salt 2/3 cup olive oil 2 Tblsp. fresh lemon juice (1 lemon) 2 small cloves garlic, crushed in a garlic press 1 tsp. dried oregano Freshly ground black pepper 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half 1-1/2 cups chopped cucumber (2 medium-size or 1 large cucumber) 1 cup chopped red onion (1 medium-size onion) 1 cup (4 oz.) crumbled feta cheese 1/2 cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint or parsley Pickled banana or cherry peppers or steamed shrimp (optional), for garnish Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Stir in the pasta and 1 tsp. of salt, reduce the heat to medium-high, and cook the pasta, uncovered, according to the package directions until just done, 8 to 9 minutes. Meanwhile, place the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and oregano in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Set the salad dressing aside. Drain the pasta well in a colander, shaking it to remove the excess water. Transfer the pasta to the large mixing bowl with the dressing. Stir to coat and let the pasta come to room temperature, about 20 minutes. When the pasta is cool, fold in the tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, feta cheese, olives, and mint or parsley. Stir to combine well. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and/or black pepper if needed. Transfer the salad to a serving bowl and serve at once garnished with the banana peppers or shrimp, if desired, or cover and refrigerate the salad until serving time. Serves 8. Big Batch: This salad is easy to double or triple, but cook the pasta a pound at a time, and mix the salad one batch at a time. Tote Notes: Tote this salad right in its serving bowl and bring the optional garnish of peppers or shrimp in a separate container, if you like. Cover the serving bowl with plastic wrap that sticks securely to the rim of the bowl to make traveling less messy. If possible, let the salad come to room temperature before serving. Then stir the salad again and top it with the garnish, if using. From What Can I Bring by Anne Byrn. SANTA FE PASTA SALAD This salad is simply fabulous! The flavor blend is right on. Add some diced, cooked chicken to make a delicious meal-in-one salad, or serve as is on the side. 1 pkg. (16 oz.) rotini pasta 1-1/4 cups tomato juice 1-1/2 Tblsp. olive oil 1 Tblsp. red wine vinegar 1 tsp. chili powder 1/2 tsp. paprika 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. garlic powder 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup cooked corn kernels 1/4 cup chopped scallions 1/4 cup chopped cilantro 2 Tblsp. diced green bell pepper 2 Tblsp. diced Roma tomato Boil pasta according to pkg. directions. Rinse under cold water and drain well. Stir together tomato juice, olive oil, vinegar, chili powder, paprika, salt, garlic powder and black pepper. Toss with pasta in a large bowl. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Combine Parmesan cheese, corn, scallions, cilantro, green pepper and tomato. Combine with chilled pasta; cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Season with cracked black pepper before serving if desired. Yield: 8 servings.

Kim, making fresh pasta doesn't need exact measurements. In fact, they can throw you off. It's kind of like bread in that the amounts of flour to egg will vary with moisture in flour and size of eggs and weather, etc. I make this kind of basic pasta dough too. It's the kind my Nonna taught us. Well, more like what we saw her making. Forget the well of flour, unless you really want to play with that method. To start your experiment I'd use 3 eggs. Beat them in a bowl and start adding flour until you get a nice stiff dough. Not too stiff, you want to be able to knead it a little bit and work it afterward. If you were using the well you'd just beat your eggs into the middle and pull in as much flour as needed to make the stiff dough. Turn the dough out on the table and knead a few times until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap or the bowl and let rest for about ten or twenty minutes then roll out. That's it. I don't usually let it rest at all, but then I have a pasta machine to make it easy to roll out. For torellini we use 1 egg yolk to one cup of ricotta and about a tablespoon of romano for the filling. If you were using larger quanitites you could use the whole eggs. One whole egg per pound of ricotta. This is also what we use for ravioli and for lasagna for that matter. You can get much more complicated and add other things, but this is the basic. Hope this helps. Have fun.

Mini Ravindran 2 cups dried of rotelle pasta- cooked according to directions and drained 3 tomatoes (preferably vine tomatoes)- quartered 3-4 jalapenos (spicier) or 1-2 bell peppers (milder)- diced 2 yellow or white onions (medium to large)- chopped thinly 2 zucchinis or yellow squash diced 2 carrots- minced 1/2 cup broccoli florets- steamed and drained 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon Italian breadcrumbs 1 tablespoon parmigiano-reggiano cheese Ground pepper and salt Add oil to wok on low to medium-heat and when oil is hot, add onions and stir until tender. Add peppers. Then add zuccinis, carrots and broccoli. Then add tomatoes. Sprinkle in the breadcrumbs and cheese. If the mixture gets dry add more olive oil to the wok. Once all the vegetables are covered with mixture, then add the pre-cooked pasta. Stir for 5 minutes. Add ground pepper and salt to your liking. Mini Ravindran