Welcome to Kitchen Queries, where the nigella.com team will answer your cooking or food related questions.  We’d love you to submit some of your recipe problems, dilemmas or queries for us to get our teeth into!

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• Help With A Pasta Sauce

  I enjoy creating pasta sauces, but mine always seem to be tomato based and I'd like to be more adventurous. Could you please recommend a pasta sauce I could try? Thank you!

  Posted by MelissaMolloy. Answered on 28th Sep 2012 at 12.00

  From the nigella team:

  Pasta sauces can be as simple as olive oil and garlic emislified with a splash of pasta cooking water, or more complex long-cooked ragus.  They ceratinly do not need to be tomato based. Indeed, Nigella has, in the past, avoided using tomato in seafood pasta sauces.

  Nigella's new book NIgellissima has a whole chapter devoted to pasta dishes, the vast majority of which do not contain tomato. Try, amongst others, Spaghetti with Tuna, Lemon & Rocket, Squid Spaghetti, Fettucine with Mushrooms, Marsala & Mascarpone and a luxurious Mini Macaroni & Cheese. There is even the option of Chocolate Pasta with Pecans & Caramel.

  Pesto is one of the most obvious tomato-free sauces and in her book Kitchen, Nigella has recipes for both a traditional pesto alla Genovese and a parsley pesto. This book also has pastas with Pancetta, Parsley & Peppers, Blue Cheese & Butternut Squash, Pasta with Calamari, Puttanesca (a piquant sauce with anchovies and capers) and Feta, Spinach & Pine Nuts.

  For something comforting try Pasta With Ham, Peas and Cream from Feast (and see related recipe link). Nigella Express also has several tomato-free and fast pasta suggestions.

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