“Salsa is the Spanish word for sauce–an indication of this condiment’s origin in Spanish-speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere, particularly Mexico and the countries of Central America. In these countries, the word “salsa” encompasses a wide range of culinary concoctions, from sauces that are smooth, cooked, and served warm or hot, to condiments that are chunky, raw, and served at room temperature….The most common type of salsa was–and still is–a version of Mexican salsa cruda (raw sauce), also known as salsa fresca (fresh sauce) or salsa Mexicana (Mexican sauce), made with chopped tomatoes, onions, and fresh green jalapeno or serrano peppers…” (The Food TimeLine).

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Pasta meals are easy, quick & easily adaptable the way we want & with whatever we have at hand. Pasta, esp. spaghetti please my kids very easily & have become a thing to turn to quite often during the weeknights. I never buy store bought pasta sauce. It might take me extra 10 -15 minutes to make the sauce at home, but it is really worth it. The best thing about pasta is that they can be the delish all inclusive one pot meals, which means I do not have to cook anything else, other than may be a side salad.

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Update: (June 13th, 2009) – This was one of the winner recipes in the Pasta Sauce contest sponsored by Foodbuzz & Buitoni! (Read about it).

Thanks to the Foodbuzz’s Tastemaker program that I got these awesome Buitoni’s Wild Mushroom Agnolotti delivered to me.  These are “generously filled with fresh portobello & crimini mushrooms, imported Grana Padana & Parmesan Cheeses & fresh roasted garlic.” Actually I cannot wait to buy more of these! I am not usually a big fan of filled pastas, but this did beat anything around. These were just delightful, bursting with the earthy tones of mushrooms & garlic. The mushrooms  & the roasted garlic were really some serious business here, &  unbelievably delicious. I could just eat them boiled.

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