Real Easy Tomato Sauce

Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onion

I saw this recipe on a blog called Rachel Eats. It originally was adapted from Marcella Hazan’s The essentials of classic Italian cooking. I adapted it a tad further, see recipe below.

Serves 4

• 28oz tinned whole San Marzano tomatoes (used chopped tomatoes)
• 5 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 medium-sized yellow onion cut in quarters
• salt to taste
• crushed red pepper to taste
• 5-8 basil leaves julienned

Peel the onion and chop it in quarters.

Put the tomatoes, onion, and butter in a heavy based saucepan and put the pan on a modest flame.

Allow the sauce to reach to a gentle simmer, adjust flame if necessary so the sauce cooks at a slow but steady simmer for 45 minutes. You need to stir every now and then, gently squashing and crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon. (I didn't have to do this step because I used crushed tomatoes. The original recipe says to discard the onion after the sauce is cooked but I left it in for extra flavor!)

Add salt, crushed red pepper, and basil and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and use on your favorite pasta dish.

I imagine this would be great for a pizza sauce, an eggplant parmesan recipe, etc. The ideas are endless!