Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

I had noticed this recipe before. It had wormed it's way into a back corner of my mind, and slept there, waiting for the day it would be awoken. And last week while I was planning my weekly menu, it finally arose. Molly mentioned it once again on her blog last week, which brought it to the forefront of my mind. I decided it would be perfect for this week, and as it turned out I picked the perfect night to make it. It was quite cold last night, and sleet came shining down most of the evening. This sauce was bright, but also very comforting. Josh is not always the biggest fan of sauce. He has been known to skip out on it completely and just coat is spaghetti with butter and Parmesan instead. But he seemed pleased to try this, and in fact had a second helping. Huzzah, a very simple and delicious sauce that my husband is happy to eat. In the future I would like to pull this recipe out for entertaining.

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter
Recipe from Orangette, adapted from Marcella Hazan; Makes 4 servings












2 cups whole, peeled, canned plum tomatoes, chopped, with their juices (about one 28-oz. can)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut in half
Salt, to taste

• Combine the tomatoes, their juices, the butter, and the onion halves in a medium saucepan. Add a pinch or two of salt. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, at a very slow but steady simmer, adjusting the heat as necessary, for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free from the tomato. Stir occasionally, mashing any large pieces of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon. Taste and salt as needed.
• Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta.

My notes: I think one of the things that I really liked about this is that it reminded me very much of the simplest of simple meals my grandmother used to make when I was growing up- macaroni and tomato juice. Yep, that's about as simple as it gets, short of just dry macaroni. This had a similar, but so much fuller flavor. Loved this sauce. Try it. I added some cracked black pepper and a little freshly grated Parmesan. Josh added a lot of Parmesan, as per usual.