Item: Costa Pasta Sauces

What you get: 6 servings

Cost: About $7.50

Preparation time: Just minutes to heat

Review: Lutherville entrepreneur Matthew Costa based his line of pasta sauces on recipes that his 90-year-old grandmother brought from the Abruzzi region in her native Italy. All of the flavors are built on her marinara sauce with additional ingredients like artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms. I tried the Sugo con Ovongole or marinara with clams. It was outstanding. The tiny clams are sweet and tender. And the celery and onion seem nearly as fresh as if you had just chopped them yourself. The clam sauce and Costa's other sauces took home a record seven awards in Food Distribution Magazine's recent Superior Products Competition. The sauces are available at local grocery stores like Eddie's and Graul's as well as other area gourmet and specialty stores.

Pub Date: 04/21/99