Ingredients :

• Jarred tomato sauce — This sets the tone — pick one you actually love. Not the cheapest on the shelf, but not the fanciest either. Just the one you enjoy the taste of on a cold spoon. A good marinara works perfectly. If your base sauce is bland, the final sauce will be bland. Simple as that.
• Cottage cheese — Go for full fat, preferably small curd. It blends better, melts into the sauce without making it watery, and the final texture is much creamier. The 0% version can work, but you lose out on silkiness. This really isn’t the time to skimp on fat content.
• Fresh garlic — Two cloves, minced by hand or with a knife. Not garlic from a tube, not powder. Fresh garlic hitting hot oil smells different — a sharp, warm scent that mellows in less than a minute. That specific moment flavors the whole sauce, and there are no shortcuts.
• The pasta — Penne, rigatoni, or fusilli — shapes with grooves or holes. This sauce is thick and creamy; it needs something to hang onto. Spaghetti can work in a pinch, but you’ll lose a good part of the sauce on the plate instead of eating it.