Made a really quick pasta sauce last night...

Super quick, super easy, super fragrant, and it tastes good too.

4 -5 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped.
1/2 onion, chopped (I have a handy dandy teeny tiny food processor that is just perfect for tear free chopping onions)
a handful of good olives, I like either black greek olives, or green sicilian olives -- but I suppose canned chopped olives would work as well
1 jar/can of anchovy filets, in olive oil (drain the olive oil into the pan to cook the garlic and onions) - chopped up
2 -3 teaspoons of capers (you can use the anchovies around the capers if you prefer)
red pepper flakes to taste
1 can chopped tomatoes.

In a pan, drain olive oil from anchovies, and sautee onions until very lightly carmelized, add garlic and sautee for a few minutes, til your mouth is watering from the smell of garlic, add anchovies and stir a few minutes, add tomatoes, olives and capers and stir gently. Bring to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve over pasta.

different deglazing can add a new level, try orange juice or an apple cider.... loverly I say.

Sauce secrets:

1. The sugar thing really works. If I'm lazy I use sugar, but the best solution is after sauteeing the onions and garlic put in a cup or bit more of wine and let it reduce till the alcohol smell goes away then add the rest of the ingredients.

2. a bay leaf or two.

3. some red chilli flakes.

4. just a bit of cinnamon. not too much. experiment 1/8 of a tsp more each time until you find the right point for the amount of your sauce. You don't want to really taste it so less is more. It just makes the taste more complex.

Oh yeah, if you're still using the green kraft shake on parmesan stop it.
The real parmesan

Spend the $10 and get a chunk of parmigiano reggiano don't accept anything else. Then start putting it on everything. I really like to fry it until crispy and put it on sandwiches.

for a twist, I had Tom Yum Spaghetti in Malaysia and it's fantastic. Just go to the asian grocery store and get Tom Yum broth cubes. Dissolve them in water then add to ground beef and let it thicken until a sauce.