simple. classic. tomato sauce.

I love a good tomato sauce. I mean a really good one. One that is lick-your-bowl good. That's what I did tonight. And the last time I made this sauce and the time before last.

Many tomato sauces are very involved - long list of ingredients and a couple hours of simmering at the minimum. While simmering for hours doesn't really bother me and I am not afraid of long lists of ingredients, it was what I had grown accustomed to when making a tomato sauce. But I had yet to find the perfect sauce. That is, until I met this one.

First thing that caught my eye - three ingredients. Did you catch that? I said THREE INGREDIENTS. Really, a tomato sauce that only uses three ingredients? Is this possible? Honestly, the only reason I tried this recipe was out of pure intrigue. I thought, nah, this can't be that good. At best it will be average. Boy was I ever wrong.

I love the way you can taste the sweetness, as well as the tangy bite, from the tomato. The onion adds a perfect understated oniony-ness to the sauce. Don't worry, you read that right. Oniony-ness is an adjective. I looked it up. And to top it off, the butter adds a gentle creaminess that is so yuummmmm. You'll probably be tempted to lick your bowl after. It's fine.

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

Serves 6

slightly adapted from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

2 28 ounce cans of peeled, whole plum tomatoes (use San Marzano with basil, if you can)

8-10 TB butter

1 ½ medium onions, peeled and cut in half

Salt

Fresh Parmesan cheese, if desired

Put the canned tomatoes in a saucepan, add the butter, onion, and salt (to taste), and cook uncovered at a very slow, but steady simmer for 45 minutes, or until the fat floats free from the tomato. Stir from time to time, mashing any large piece of tomato in the pan with the back of a wooden spoon. Taste and correct for salt. Discard the onion before tossing with pasta.