This Marcella Hazan Recipe is Nonetheless Our Most Well-liked Tomato Sauce, Ever

There are some things I at all times have in my kitchen: a can of tomatoes, butter, an onion, some pasta. And I don’t suppose it’s a coincidence that these simply so occur to be the precise components wanted to make a batch of 1 very particular—and quite simple—tomato sauce.

First printed in her cookbook Necessities of Basic Italian Cooking over 30 years in the past and featured in Kristen Miglore’s Genius column in 2016, Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce With Onion & Butter has gained the hearts of numerous dwelling cooks and impressed almost 600 critiques on our web site.

The sauce solely calls for 3 components (plus salt), and the prep work is virtually nonexistent: Simply toss the tomatoes, butter, a halved onion, and salt right into a saucepan, carry to a simmer, and let it cook dinner slowly and steadily for about 45 minutes. Over the course of the cook dinner time, the chunks of tomatoes disintegrate, and their taste turns into concentrated and candy. The onion, left intact, infuses the sauce with simply sufficient allium taste to boost—not overpower—the tomatoes. And the butter emulsifies the sauce, giving it a luxuriously silky texture that olive oil alone can’t fairly replicate.

It’s a easy components that doesn’t sound like a lot, however there’s some type of alchemy that occurs when the tomatoes are allowed to slowly intermingle with the butter and onion. “I believed the sauce would style like tomatoes and butter and onion, however the sum of components are remodeled into one thing larger than its elements,” mentioned neighborhood member CookingMom.

“There’s such an inclination to get slowed down in a dependence on hundreds of thousands of components,” echoed Elizabeth Ok. “However periodically getting again to reveal fundamentals is essential so you may recognize components for what they’re. And, I’ve to say, the clear flavors on this sauce actually did not miss all of the extras.”

Nevertheless, if you’re extra of a cooking maximalist, it’s additionally a recipe you could simply adapt or add to. For individuals who have an abundance of ripe, in-season plum tomatoes, you may simply use these as an alternative of canned. We even share three simple strategies for making ready them: blanching, freezing, or operating them by way of a meals mill. And that’s only one riff. Some neighborhood members additionally add basil and different herbs to the sauce. Others use it as a base for meatballs or as their default pizza sauce. I, nevertheless, not often stray from the best of preparations: tossed with no matter pasta form I’ve available and showered with some high-quality, freshly grated Parmesan.

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