Try these uncommon pasta sauces

For uncommon pasta sauces worth trying, start with eggplant-and-tomato pasta alla Norma, walnut-based salsa di noci, or beef-and-onion pasta alla Genovese. Zucchini-based pasta Nerano and pestos made with ingredients beyond basil offer more options. These suggestions come from a cooking discussion among home cooks, with repeated recommendations for the first three dishes and more personal endorsements for others.

What goes into pasta alla Norma?

Pasta alla Norma drew repeated praise for its combination of eggplant and tomato. It is one of the more strongly supported choices in the discussion, especially if those are the ingredients you want at the center of the dish.

One cook’s specific advice was to cook the eggplant aggressively and use less tomato so the eggplant remains noticeable. That is an individual preparation tip rather than a method everyone in the thread endorsed, but it gives a clear direction for keeping the sauce focused on the eggplant.

Ricotta salata was suggested as the cheese for this pasta. When another cook reported difficulty finding the traditional ricotta, Pecorino Romano was offered as a close alternative. Treat that as a substitution suggested in the discussion, not a claim that the two cheeses are identical.

What is salsa di noci, and what other pestos can you try?

Salsa di noci is a walnut-based pesto that received multiple recommendations. Home cooks described it as rich, creamy, and nutty, making it a distinct option alongside the tomato-based and meat-based sauces on the shortlist.

One description combines skinless walnuts and milk-soaked breadcrumbs with garlic, olive oil, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. That same description says it is traditionally served with stuffed pasta. The thread provides those ingredients, but not a complete recipe with quantities.

Pesto suggestions also went well beyond basil. The ingredients named included:

• Walnuts
• Nettle
• Almonds
• Chestnuts
• Turnip greens
• Capers

These were separate pesto ideas, not ingredients intended to be combined into one sauce. For a more specific variation, one participant described roasted beet and walnut pesto served with goat cheese and arugula. That combination had only a single endorsement, so consider it an additional idea rather than one of the discussion’s broadly supported choices.

What makes pasta alla Genovese different?

Pasta alla Genovese was repeatedly described as a rich sauce built around beef and a large amount of slowly cooked onion. One cook called it a long-cooked, savory ragù. The emphasis here is on the beef-and-onion combination rather than the eggplant, tomato, or nuts featured in the other leading suggestions.

One description gives a ratio of 2.5 parts sliced onion to 1 part stewing beef by weight. Another describes a pound of stew beef and maybe four pounds of thinly sliced onions. Those are separate accounts, so they should not be merged into a single definitive formula.

A preparation outline shared in the discussion starts by browning the beef, then cooking it with sliced onions over low heat. Some of the onions are then pureed and combined with the beef. Another account describes cooking the beef and onions for several hours, maybe three, so this is an option for when a long-cooked sauce fits your plans.

What other pasta ideas came up?

Beyond the leading recommendations, home cooks named zucchini, sardine, and legume-based dishes. These received more than a passing mention, though the discussion did not provide full recipes for them.

• Pasta Nerano: More than one cook recommended this zucchini-based pasta. One described a fried, creamy zucchini sauce.
• Pasta con le sarde: This sardine pasta was recommended more than once, and one description included breadcrumbs.
• Pasta with legumes: Suggestions included lentils, beans, chickpeas, and peas. For the lentil version, one cook described cooking the lentils first, then adding dried pasta to the pot to cook with them.
• Spaghetti Assassina: Participants recommended this charred pasta in spicy tomato sauce, but disagreed about its heat. Some found it quite hot, while another said it barely registered as spicy by American standards.

The disagreement about Spaghetti Assassina matters if heat is part of your decision. The thread supports describing it as a spicy tomato option, but not promising a particular level of heat.

What can go with pasta and rapini?

One participant offered a specific approach for orecchiette with cime di rapa: boil the pasta and greens together, then toss them with heated olive oil and garlic. Anchovies, red chile pepper, breadcrumbs, and grated cheese were presented as optional additions, rather than requirements.

The same suggestion included two substitutions. Short, chunky pasta could stand in for orecchiette, and broccoli could replace rapini if it was unavailable. The cook cautioned that the broccoli version would not be quite the same, which is worth keeping in mind when choosing between using what is available and seeking out the suggested greens.

Which sauce should you try first?

Start with one of the repeatedly recommended choices: pasta alla Norma for eggplant and tomato, salsa di noci for a rich walnut sauce, or pasta alla Genovese for slowly cooked beef and onions. Choose by the ingredients you want to cook with, not by a ranking of rarity or quality that the discussion does not establish.