Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

Name: Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 2 pounds fresh, ripe tomatoes, blanched, peeled, and roughly chopped (or 2 cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice); 5 tablespoons butter; 1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half; Kosher salt; 1 to 1 1/2 pounds pasta, cooked; Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for serving

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"This is the simplest of all sauces to make, and none has a purer, more irresistibly sweet tomato taste," says cookbook author Marcella Hazan in her Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. "I have known people to skip the pasta and eat the sauce directly out of the pot with a spoon."

By Marcella Hazan

Updated on November 1, 2022

Marcella Hazan Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter Recipe — Photo: Photo and Styling by Julia Gartland

Active Time:

5 mins

Total Time:

55 mins

Yield:

6 servings

Ingredients

2 pounds fresh, ripe tomatoes, blanched, peeled, and roughly chopped (or 2 cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice)
5 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half
Kosher salt
1 to 1 1/2 pounds pasta, cooked
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for serving

Directions

Put the tomatoes in a saucepan. Add the butter, onion, and salt. Cook, uncovered, at a very slow but steady simmer for 45 minutes, or until the fat floats free from the tomato. Stir occasionally, mashing any large pieces of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon. Taste and adjust for salt. Discard the onion, then toss the sauce with pasta. Serve with grated Parmesan.