Years ago I used to make more pasta at home. I don’t know why I’ve gotten out of the habit. I was thinking about switching to grating my own parmesan cheese with a microplane as opposed to using pre-shredded stuff, when it occurred to me: whatcha gonna use it on?
So I bought a couple of packages of dried cheese tortellini, something I used to make regularly many years ago. But what about sauce? Making my own would be relatively easy, yes, but a dish made with dried pasta from the pantry just begs you to lean into the convenience, so I bought a jar of Rao’s marinara, since many claim it’s the best in the supermarket.
So I made the tortellini and sauced it with the Rao’s. Then I made it rain with my block of parmesan on the microplane.
Verdict: the freshly shredded parmesan beats any other option and only gives you one small thing to clean. Totally worth it.
Verdict: Rao’s is darned good. Their original marinara is not only delicious, but it’s…exactly what you want in a marinara. I have no notes. There’s nothing unexpected in it, nothing off balance about it, and nothing missing from it. It’s not life-changing to find the perfect marinara. But I think I have resolved that this one is now to be my default choice.