3 versatile no-cook sauces for weeknight pasta dinners

You know that little tingle of excitement you feel when Netflix is about to drop a new season of your favourite show? I get that feeling when I find out Sabrina Ghayour is about to release a new cookbook.

Recently, I ripped open a thick envelope and found an advance copy of her Persiana Everyday. The book came out in August.

I’m a fan because Ghayour writes for the harried home cook who wants big flavour.

“I cook every day. I’ve cooked every day since I was a kid – every meal in the house,” she tells me. The Iranian British chef has written about growing up an only child in a house with parents who did not cook. She credits that with freeing her from being hidebound by tradition and giving her room to experiment.

When I ask Ghayour about the deftness of her tightly written recipes, the author of six cookbooks says: “I’m phenomenally lazy. I don’t like washing things if I don’t have to.”

She often refers to herself as “stubborn”, saying she respects classic cooking techniques, but in her day-to-day life as a working stepmum, she leans into efficiency and away from what she calls “mumma cooking”, cooking it the way it has always been done, following specific rules, a firm ingredient list and using multiple bowls, pots and pans.

“I wanted to be a commercially available Middle Eastern girl,” she says of her food writing and recipe development. “I want people to cook from my books – not do one amazing feast that took 15 hours to prepare and then put the book back on the shelf.

“If you really want to be truthful, there is really not that much authenticity in this book, because I made this up.

“My whole ethos and style is stripping things back from the perspective of what we don’t need. If, as Persians, we have certain ingredients that you have to hunt down, I’m like, don’t use that.”

Case in point: several simple recipes feature rose harissa, the Tunisian chilli paste with rose petals or water for a more floral note.

I tell her I struggled to choose a recipe from her latest cookbook because I’m tempted by so many, including her harissa and lemon roasted chicken thighs, in which the chicken is slathered with a mixture of harissa, yoghurt, lemon juice and zest and baked until slightly charred.

“I’m making them right now,” she says. “I really make them all the time. They’re just like a two-minute no-brainer. I can have the chicken with wraps or rice and tomorrow it will go into a curry.”

When I mentioned how often she uses harissa in her recipes, Ghayour says: “I live in a village with no grocery store, no shops, so I use the same things over and over again.”

Harissa is one of the condiments she urges home cooks to keep on hand because it is so versatile (if you buy a jar, you also can use it to make the harissa chicken noodle lettuce cups from her Simply: Easy Everday Dishes cookbook).

“It’s great stirred into pasta sauces. It’s great in stir-fries to make it spicy. It’s great in salad dressing. It’s great in butter compounds. It’s just that completely giving ingredient that you cannot stop using.” Still, she says, if you don’t have it, substitute your favourite chilli paste.

“In terms of food, [the pandemic] has been an education that I didn’t expect,” she says. “It made us realise that, as cooking professionals, we’re lucky our pantries are stocked a little better with somewhat [hard-to-find] ingredients.”

The recipe I eventually settled on is a 10-minute, no-cook pepper, harissa and tomato pasta sauce, which has multiple uses.

Ghayour encourages me to imagine quickly pan-frying bone-in chicken thighs, then baking them with this sauce and a handful of salty black olives. The pepper sauce also is great with cubed potatoes for a patatas bravas-style dish or tossed with lamb meatballs.

She included recipes for two other no-cook pasta sauces on the same page, and I tried those as well.

She also recommends serving the walnut, spinach and herb with courgette pasta sauce over thin, breaded chicken cutlets with a squeeze of lemon, while the yoghurt, tarragon and pistachio pasta sauce pairs well with lamb or kefta kebabs.

All three of these sauces freeze beautifully. I know because I made them all in one night and sampled each, and then froze the leftovers.

And, if Ghayour writes another cookbook, which I hope and think she will, I’ll probably write about that one, too. Keep on being stubborn, Ms Ghayour.

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Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4 to 6 (3 cups sauce)

This no-cook, vegetable-rich pasta sauce is bright and fresh-tasting right after it is made but will mellow out after a day or two in the fridge. For a smoother sauce, use a high-speed blender. A generous sprinkling of parmesan cheese when serving adds a hit of umami to finish the dish. To make this dish vegan, substitute a vegan alternative for the cheese.

Make ahead: The sauce can be made up to 3 days in advance.

Storage notes: Refrigerate leftover sauce for up to 3 days; or freeze for up to 1 month.

Ingredients:

450g spaghetti or your favourite pasta shape

Fine salt

2 medium courgette (about 450g), coarsely grated

50g fresh spinach leaves

60g grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

40g coarsely chopped raw walnuts

About 80ml olive oil, or more as needed

1 large clove garlic

5g fresh basil leaves, plus more for serving

5g fresh coriander leaves, plus more for serving

Juice of 1 lime

Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Fill a large pot with water, place over high heat and bring to a boil. Season lightly with salt, add the pasta and cook according to the package instructions, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is al dente, with just a little bit of bite.

While the pasta is cooking, place the courgette, spinach, cheese, walnuts, olive oil, garlic, basil, coriander and lime juice in a food processor (or blender; see headnote) and pulse until smooth. If the sauce seems too dry, add more olive oil, 1 tablespoon at a time. Taste, and season with salt and pepper, as needed.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add it to a large bowl. Pour the sauce over it and, using tongs or two big forks, toss to coat. Sprinkle with fresh coriander and parsley leaves, if desired. Serve, family-style, with parmesan cheese on the side.

Nutrition information per serving, based on 6 | calories: 486; total fat: 65g; saturated fat: 20g; cholesterol: 300mg; sodium: 2,400mg; total carbohydrates: 300g; dietary fibre: 25g.

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If you love the flavour of fresh tarragon, you’ll want to put this no-cook pasta sauce on repeat. For a smooth-as-silk sauce, use a high-speed blender. If you use a regular blender, you may end up with small chunks of pistachios in your sauce, but it will still taste great. The thick sauce coats any shape of pasta, making this a dish to dig into while curled up in your favourite chair. The dish makes a quick main meal but also tastes great with grilled seafood.

Time: 20 minutes

Serves:4 to 6 (makes 1½ cups sauce)

Make ahead: The sauce can be made up to 3 days in advance.

Storage notes: Refrigerate leftover sauce for up to 3 days; or freeze up to 1 month.

Ingredients:

450g spaghetti or your favourite pasta shape

Fine salt

250g Greek yoghurt

100g unsalted raw pistachio nuts

7g fresh tarragon leaves, plus more for garnish

2 tablespoons olive or garlic oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Grated parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

Method:

Fill a large pot with water, place over high heat and bring to a boil. Season lightly with salt, add the pasta and stir, making sure all is submerged. Cook according to the package instructions, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is al dente, with just a little bit of bite.

While the pasta is boiling, place the yogurt, pistachios, tarragon and oil in a high-speed blender (see headnote) and process until smooth. Taste, and season with salt and pepper, as needed.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add it to a large bowl. Pour the sauce over it and, using tongs or two big forks, toss to coat. Sprinkle with tarragon leaves and season with freshly cracked pepper. Serve, family style, with parmesan or vegan cheese on the side.

Nutrition information per serving, based on 6 | calories: 440; total fat: 65g; saturated fat: less than 20g; cholesterol: less than 300mg; sodium: less than 2,400mg; total carbohydrates: 300g; dietary fibre: 25g.

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Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4 to 6

This spicy red no-cook sauce comes together in about 10 minutes in a blender. It’s so easy to make, it might be done before your pasta has finished boiling. The dish can be a fast-and-easy weeknight meal, but it also works well as a side dish with simply cooked proteins, such as steak, grilled chicken, lamb or tofu.

Storage notes: Refrigerate leftover sauce for up to 3 days; freeze for up to 1 month.

Where to buy: Make your own rose harissa, or find it in international markets or online.

Ingredients:

450g your favourite pasta shape

Fine salt

2 large red, orange or yellow bell peppers (400g total), cored, seeded and coarsely chopped

170g oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

2 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons rose harissa

Freshly ground black pepper

Grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Method:

Fill a large pot with water, place over high heat and bring to a boil. Season lightly with salt, add the pasta and cook according to the package instructions, stirring occasionally, until al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, place the bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and harissa in a blender and process until smooth. Taste, and season with salt and pepper, as needed.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add it to a large bowl. Pour the sauce over it and, using tongs or two big forks, toss to coat. Serve family-style, with parmesan cheese, if desired.

Nutrition information per serving, based on 6 | calories: 364; total fat: 6g; saturated fat: 1g; cholesterol: 0mg; sodium: 168mg; carbohydrates: 67g; dietary fibre: 5g; sugar: 5g; protein: 12g.

The analyses are estimates based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian’s or nutritionist’s advice.

Recipes from ‘Persiana Everyday’ by Sabrina Ghayour (Hachette, 2022).

© The Washington Post