We don't have Italian often but when we do, I like to pair it with a good marinara. Pasta sauce is so hard to find in something that doesn't have enough sodium to keel a horse. When we were in a local health food store, I looked at a new to me pasta sauce and thought it looked really good and decided to give it a try.
I usually get Trader Joe's No Salt Added Marinara which is sodium friendly at 35mg per half cup but on the bland side. I always have to heavily doctor it with spices before making it palatable to us. Here's how this stuff stacks up...
While 115mg is more than Trader Joe's version, it's still considerably less than most pasta sauces that can run anywhere from 500mg on the lower end to closer to 900mg on the high end. For that little bit extra that makes it taste better, I will take it!
We love to use it on our whole wheat chicken parm!
I also love to use 1/4 cup of it split on an English muffin when I'm craving pizza on the caloric cheap.
The verdict? LOVE. THIS. STUFF!
The olive oil they use gives it a nice, high end mouth feel and the San Marzano tomatoes really do make a difference in taste. It tastes, to us at least, as close to restaurant quality pasta sauce without the choking salt content. I rarely have to doctor it up either. If I do, it's usually just a small hit of fresh ground black pepper. If I have fresh herbs on hand, I might add those but it's more for visual than adding something flavor wise that I feel is missing. When it's on sale, it usually runs about $3 with a regular price of $3.50-$4.00, though I did see our local big box store try to sell it for $9.99 and about fainted in the aisle. I could get three jars at the health food store for that! But I did see it on sale there for $3.50 last time so someone must've said "y'all are on crack!"
If you should happen to see a jar, give it a go especially if you want to indulge in a little Italian and not feel the sodium bloat later!
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I think you nailed it - it is restaurant quality with lower sodium. Just have to watch the price tag depending on the store you try to buy it in.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen this particular brand around here, but I did see one of the "gourmet" sauces at the store for around $10. I laughed too, who is going to pay that much? For glorified tomato sauce? I had a favorite brand/type that I used for a really long time, but then the store stopped carrying. Since then I've "played the field" trying to find another favorite.
ReplyDeleteI love Silver Palate sauces. They have quality taste and low acid so I don't get indigestion like some other sauces.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to see if they sell this around here. I'm constantly looking for a good sauce that isn't bland but not bloating in sodium. I love the English muffin pizzas -- one of my favorite ways to eat them. =o)
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