Re: [pct-l] pasta sauces

[Tom Rogers <tfrogers@san.rr.com>]

Jonathan Ley wrote:
> A couple months back, someone posted about making spaghetti
> sauce (tomato based) leathers... Wouldn't you know, it works!
> Does anyone know how long these will keep at room temp in a
> zip-sealed bag? I'm hoping "1 year+"

I may have been the author.  From my personal experience 1 year+ shelf
life is within expectations.  I store my dried (dehydrated) provisions
in zip-locks in an old refrigerator in the garage.  The fridge is turned
off, but since it's a sealed unit, the foods don't experience much
variation in temperature or humidity.  Works for me, but I think any
cool, dark storage location would be fine.

> Anyone have some good ideas for sprucing up pasta on the trail?
  
By trial and error, I've gravitated to dehydrating the least expensive
canned sauces (e.g. Hunt's, Del Monte) rather than the sustantially more
expensive "gourmet" sauces that come in jars.  In addition to meal-sized
leather portions, I carry a baggie of pasta veggies which generally
includes dehydrated tomato chunks, bell pepper (green and red), sliced
mushroom and zuchinni wafers.  Finally, there's the baggie of spices:
crushed red pepper, parsely, oregano, whatever suits my taste at the
time.

I'm strictly a 1 pot chef.  For a single portion, I combine the sauce
leather(ripped into postage stamp size pieces), dehydrated veggies, and
spices with about 1+ pint of water before lighting the stove.  Stir
occasionally during heating until the sauce is rehydrated, which is
usually about the time the pot reaches a boil.  Throw in about 6 ounces
of pasta; I prefer gemmeli, rotelli, penne, or shells over spaghetti or
linguinni, mostly because I think those shapes are more tolerant to
inadvertent overcooking.  Bring to boil, then reduce heat, simmer until
near al dente, and remove from heat.  Salivate for several minutes until
the meal cools (and continues cooking, ergo remove from heat when still
just a little hard).  If you used the right proportions of water,
dehydrated fixin's and pasta, the consistency should be saucy, but not
soupy.  Sprinkle a little shredded cheese, and viola, trail pasta.  

Works equally well with corn pasta if you're of that ilk, but the corn
pasta is more susceptable to overcooking and getting mushy.  Still, I do
a corn rotelli meal about once a resupply as a tribute to RJ.

Happy trails, Tom
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