Pasta in Sacue

[mongoose]

Pasta is about the cheapest food you can find. And I'd eat it three times a week if it wasn't a quick way to gain weight. That aside, it is a hearty meal that definitely qualifies as comfort food.

The thing i've learned about putting out pasta on dart night is that I need to keep the sauce in a separate crock/roaster. The time i tried making one big roasting pan of pasta and sauce, I ended up using a 55 gallon drum of sauce, and it still came out dry.

The guideline I got from the food wholesaler is that 1 pound of pasta should feed 4-5 people in an all-you-can eat setting. I'm a heavy eater, so I lean closer to the 4 than the 5 when doing the numbers. and besides, if there's anything left over, pasta is about $1 a pound. I'd rather overspend $1.25 than have 6 hungry shooters.

Pasta - I get it in 5lb bags at the food wholesaler. Then I'll boil it off with salt and oil in the water. The oil helps keep it from sticking together.

After it cooks, I put it in a colender and rinse it off, which should also help keep it from sticking. And from there it goes into a roasting pan (the insert from the roaster we use), and it sits with no heat on it until serving time.

The Sauce - that's a wide-open subject. I tend to make one using straight tomoato sauce that comes in a gallon from the wholesaler for next-ta-nuthin and doctoring it with basil, garlic powder, salt, and oregano.

I'm sure that everyone has someone in their league that makes a great homemade spaghetti sauce. This would be a good time to give them the spotlight and use their talents for the good of the league

I like meat sauce, so I'll fry some hamburger with onions, drain it, and add it to the sauce. Others use hot sausage or meatballs. The idea for me here is to keep the sauce separate from the pasta, and hot.

Serving - I'll put out the roaster of pasta and the roaster/crockPot with the sauce, and then when people add the hot sauce to the pasta it'll be a warm platter.

I also grab some pre-sliced homemade bread from the bakery in the morning and put it out with a container of whipped butter. If that doesn't fill your belly, nothing will.