Back when I received the new Sacla Stir-Through sauces I also received another couple of new Sacla products – some tomato sauce and dried pasta.

Italian Tomato Sauce

We eat quite a number of tomato based meals that I will, more often than not, cheat and use jars for. I’ll use jars of pasta sauce, lasagne sauce, bolognaise sauce, sauces for chicken and fish and so on. Not all the time, but often – it’s easy, no fuss, and I’m very busy!

This tomato sauce from Sacla is created from “an authentic soffritto base and mixed with plump Italian Tomatoes & cooked in hot olive oil, for an extra intensity of flavour”. It’s ready to use hot or cold. It comes in a big plastic jar that contains enough to serve ten people and which keeps in the fridge for up to two weeks so you can use it to make several different meals either to freeze or over the course of 14 days.

Despite having celery in, which I really can’t abide to be honest, I found this sauce was really good to cook with – easy to use and tasted good in bolognaise, lasagne and simple pasta dishes. It is certainly very tomatoey, I could see myself using this instead of tinned tomatoes pretty much all the time. As a base it has a lot of flavour even on its own – when you cook with it you can add herbs and other ingredients to make your dishes, but it does work as a dipping sauce for bread as a starter too. If you cook a lot of tomato based meals and like to good from scratch rather than use jars, then definitely give this sauce a go – I shan’t bother with passata since trying it.

Conchiglie Pasta

Shells to you and I – this is effectively good quality dried pasta. I like pasta shells, they hold a lot of sauce!

Apparently this kind of pasta hails from the Campania region on the toe of Italy. They have been designed to grab gold of vegetables and sauce inside so you get meals full of flavour.

I normally buy supermarket own brand dried pasta. I spend as little as possible on it really, because it’s a cupboard staple that we use quite a lot of. I really noticed the difference in quality with this pasta from Sacla – it was smoother, less stodgy, and I much preferred it. I could totally get the difference in price in both the taste and texture, and when I’ve used up my supply of “cheap” penne, I think I’ll be going for something a bit better. We are what we eat after all.