Seriously Good and Seriously Easy Tomato Sauce

For a long time, I made my own tomato sauce. It was never anything like what the little Italian ladies in my hometown ever made, but it was better than the sugared-up stuff that comes out of a jar from the store. My go-to recipe generally consisted of heating onions and garlic in olive oil, adding quality crushed canned tomatoes plus some seasonings, heating until warm, and then dumping it on pasta.

I was about half-way there, but there were some errors in my ways. First off, I've found that while canned tomatoes are okay to use - especially Italian ones - they have to be canned whole tomatoes, not crushed. Homemade canned tomatoes are the best alternative to ones in the stores, while fresh in-season tomatoes set the gold standard for making great sauce.



Additionally, I hadn't yet found this genius recipe that adds butter to tomato sauce. Olive oil, sure. But butter? I was skeptical until I tried it, but I found it to be supremely delicious.

This will probably be my go-to sauce for awhile - at least until I have to cook for my vegan hubby again. I'm excited to try it as a base with other veggies for a fabulous pasta primavera!


Seriously Good Tomato Sauce
My version of Marcella Hazan's genius recipe - the most popular tomato sauce recipe on the internet

1 1/2 cups homemade canned tomatoes
3 large in season tomatoes (about 1 pound)
(or you could use entirely canned whole Italian tomatoes, about 2 cups worth, instead of homemade or fresh tomatoes)
1 yellow onion, halved
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 + teaspoon salt

1.) Cut the stems off of the fresh tomatoes. Fill a medium saucepan 2/3 with water and bring to a boil. Plunge the fresh tomatoes into the water and allow them to boil for about 5 minutes or until their skins start to separate from their flesh. Strain the tomatoes then and rinse with cool water. Remove and discard the skins.
2.) In another (or the same now) medium saucepan, place the onion, butter, canned tomatoes, and tomatoes with their recently removed skins. Allow it to come to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes, breaking up the fresh tomatoes every once in awhile with some stirring and mashing with the back of the spoon. Cook down until the sauce is your desired consistency. Remove the onion before enjoying.