It seems as though no one makes tomato sauce at home anymore and that’s a shame. Spaghetti (or any other pasta, really) and tomato sauce is such an easy go-to meal, ready to be doctored in any one of a thousand ways or enjoyed as-is. While some sauces definitely do benefit from an hours-long simmer there has been a ridiculously simple tomato sauce recipe floating around the web for years now from Marcella Hazan that proves everything you think you know about making good tomato sauce–that it takes too long, that it must be painstakingly crafted–just isn’t true. She doesn’t use olive oil or garlic, nor does it take very long to make. In fact, it’s three ingredients–canned whole tomatoes, butter and a halved onion–and takes about half an hour or so to reach it’s own tomato glory. It gets raves from just about everyone who makes it.

As marvelous as this particular sauce is, it uses WAY more butter than I like in nearly any recipe, especially one that is only supposed to dress about one pound of pasta. It’s quite good, as butter-loaded anything tends to be, but I was really wanting to try to duplicate a smashingly good, simple tomato sauce from my favorite restaurant back home and that quantity of butter was overwhelming my sauce. I took the basic idea of simmering a large can of tomatoes into sauce with onion and adapted it to my own liking.

This sauce tastes delicious on it’s own, though I also love to simmer meatballs (meatless or otherwise) in it as well and serve it over just about any kind of pasta. It’s also good over polenta, but that’s a whole other article. If you have a can of tomatoes to hand you can have a fantastic homemade sauce in just a little longer than it will take to make the pasta and garlic bread, and nearly all the cooktime is hands off. What more can you ask for a weeknight meal?

Simple Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 small to medium onion, peeled and halved
2 Tbsp butter
dash each cinnamon and nutmeg
one handful (about 1/4 cup) basil leaves or 1 tablespoon dried basil (in a pinch, fresh basil is MUCH better here)

Directions:
Heat the tomatoes, onion and butter, cinnamon and nutmeg in a saucepan over medium heat until it starts to bubble. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20-30 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft and fall apart easily. If you want to cover it to prevent tomato juice from spattering your stove, slip the lid to the side a bit to vent so that it still boils down and thickens a bit. Crush the tomatoes against the sides of the pot with a spoon unti the sauce is the texture you prefer and stir in the basil. Allow the basil leaves to wilt into the sauce if using fresh, remove the onion halves and serve over pasta or whatever else you’d like tomato sauce on.

Notes:
-In regards to canned tomatoes, the original recipe calls for imported plum tomatoes, which can be both hard to find and a bit pricey. In my view, any tomatoes that taste good to you are fine for this recipe, so if you have a brand you’re happy with go ahead and use it. I’ve made mine with both the expensive brands and the generic $1/can type and while it’s exquisite with the higher quality tomatoes, it’s still really quite good with the lesser ones as well. You can also used crushed tomatoes for this recipe, you just won’t need to simmer quite so long to break down the tomatoes, but might need to simmer a bit longer if they’re a little watery. Cook until it tastes good to you.
-If your tomatoes happen to be a particularly bland batch, add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste. I won’t tell.
-Trust me on the nutmeg and cinnamon. It sounds weird, but it’s just the tiniest bit to play off the onion and butter and it’s not nearly so good without it.