Jamie Oliver says we've been cooking pasta sauce wrong

16 December 2023 , 14:34

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Jamie Oliver's onion trick will elevate your dishes. (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

It turns out most of us have been making our pasta sauces wrong all this time.

Pasta is a beloved dish for a reason: it's flexible, cheap, and can please a wide variety of different tastes. However, it turns out that a lot of us have been making one crucial mistake all along, and it starts with one of the very first steps you take when beginning to cook up the pasta sauce for your chosen recipe.

TV chef Jamie Oliver explains that there is one crucial preparation step that many people miss with one of the base ingredients used in many pasta sauces - the humble but mighty onion.

In a post on his Instagram account, Oliver explained the tip as part of one of his favourite seafood recipes - for tuna and prawn linguine - helps sweeten the onion's taste and make it milder. Inspired by my time cooking with Nonna Rosanna, this prawn & tuna linguine is an absolute joy. I’m using her trick of washing sliced onions to make them milder, and that moisture also helps to add extra sweetness as they cook!"

The recipe, which is also available on his website and in his Jamie Cooks Italy cookbook, explains that this is achieved by first chopping the onions finely, before soaking them in a bowl of water, and that to offset the newfound sweetness of the onion, you can "add vinegar for contrast".

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Commenters on the post seemed keen to try out Jamie's suggested onion trick, but one noted that it wasn't new to them: "Dude! Japanese people have been washing onions in water for 20 years," wrote one. Another commented: "My family will love that trick about washing onions!"

While a third pointed out that there is another potential benefit to washing onions, "I peel a lot of onions, and they tear me up terribly. My solution is always to peel them in water. No more pain."

So if you struggle with getting watery-eyed when handling the nutrient-rich vegetable, there may be more than one benefit to incorporating this trick into your cooking routines.

No matter what pasta dish is your preference, whether it is a classic like lasagne or spaghetti Bolognese or a delicate mushroom and white wine linguine - this trick promises to elevate your dishes to the next level.

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Emma Mackenzie