I was inspired by one of my favorite young youtube chefs when she said, to paraphrase, that you will never become a good cook until you are courageous in the kitchen. It’s a shame i had to be 70 to be able to understand what exactly she meant by that myself, but she’s exactly right. you have to finally understand enough about the ratios to finally dive in on your own and begin to cook without fear, with fewer and fewer training wheels.
One day, for soups and sauces, you won’t need measuring tools, cups or spoons. but for now, just know that in general, you will need from 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of each spice for an italian-tasting dish … to a can (approx 2 cup can) of tomato sauce, add the following:
pink or kosher salt,
fresh ground pepper,
dried oregano,
dried basil, (fresh is preferable)
ground fennel seed,
flash fry in a pan of half a diced onion and 2 minced garlic cloves, heated in olive oil, for some dishes. This adds sweet, savory, caramelized elements.
For some dishes you want the tomato sauce itself to be less caramelized, so for those dishes especially, use the garlic and onion powders and heat through slowly. Nothing at all wrong with the powders. Again, from 1/2 to 2 tsps each per 2 cups tomato sauce.
Sauces can be brightened up with lemon juice and enriched with butter. Be courageous, like she said.
Oikos 