Spaghetti Sauce, Marinara, other Tomato based Sauces for Spaghetti - Share your favorite recipe

Growing up, my mom always made meatballs and spaghetti.  When I married I continued making meatballs with marinara sauce.

At work, a bunch of us girls would go out to lunch on Fridays.  One of the places we went was a place called Italian Village where I always got their special lunch
which was spaghetti with meat sauce, a slice of cheese pizza, and spumoni, which is an Italian ice cream.

I liked the meat sauce so well that I quit making meatballs and started making a meat sauce instead,  I usually don't use a recipe for my marinara sauce.

For a meat sauce back then I would just add a pound of ground beef.

This recipe has some really interesting ingredients and I have never found an Alton Brown recipe that turned out bad.

Meat Sauce and Spaghetti Recipe - Courtesy of Alton Brown


source


Meat Sauce and Spaghetti

Ingredients:

Meat sauce:

6 ounces thick sliced bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 whole cloves
1 whole star anise pod
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, 3 minced and 2 sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
8 ounces coarsely ground beef chuck
8 ounces coarsely ground pork butt
1 1/4 cups white wine, divided
3/4 cup evaporated milk
3 cups beef broth
1-ounce dried porcini mushrooms, finely chopped
2 (28-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan

Pasta:

1 gallon water
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 pound dry spaghetti

Directions:

For the meat sauce:

Place an 8-quart Dutch oven over low heat and add the bacon. Cook slowly until the bacon is crispy and has rendered its fat, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the bacon from the pan for another use. Add the onion, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Place the clove and star anise into a small spice bag, add to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Cook, uncovered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions caramelize, 45 to 60 minutes. Add the celery and the 3 cloves of minced garlic to the pan and continue to cook over low heat until the celery is semi-translucent, approximately 30 minutes. Remove the spice bag from the pot.

Meanwhile, place a wide 4-quart saute pan, over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and once it shimmers, add the beef chuck and the pork butt and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is well browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer the meat to a colander to drain. Return the pan to high heat, add 1/2 cup of the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Transfer these bits and any remaining wine to the Dutch oven along with the meat.
Add another 1/2 cup of the wine, evaporated milk, beef broth, and mushrooms to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 3 hours.

Once the sauce has been cooking for 1 1/2 hours, place the 4-quart saute pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Once it shimmers, add the 2 cloves of sliced garlic and cook for 30 to 45 seconds or until fragrant. Do not allow the garlic to brown. Add the tomatoes, oregano, basil, and marjoram and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, approximately 30 minutes. Add the remaining 1/4 cup wine, tomato paste, ketchup, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Increase the heat to medium high; add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes.

Transfer the tomato mixture to the meat mixture and stir to combine. Simmer the sauce, uncovered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, while preparing the pasta.

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For the pasta:

Bring the water and salt to a boil over high heat. Carefully add the pasta, stirring quickly to separate. Cover and return to a boil, being careful that the water does not boil over. Once boiling again, uncover and continue to cook until slightly less than al dente, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain in a colander.

Add the pasta to the meat sauce and cook, over low heat, for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the pasta is al dente. Add the Parmesan cheese and toss to combine. Transfer pasta and sauce to a serving bowl or individual bowls and serve.

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I have three basic tomato sauces for pasta.

Spaghetti Sauce
#10 can tomato puree
2 lbs spicy italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbsp. dried basil
2 Tbsp. oregano
2 Tbsp. marjoram
2 Bay leaves
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Put tomato puree in a large pot.
Remove sausage from casings, brown over medium high heat, breaking up while cooking. Add to pot.
Sweat onion and bell pepper in pan with sausage fat until soft, about 20 minutes. Add to pot.
Add remaining ingredients to pot, cook for 6 hours.
I pressure can this in 1 1/2 pint jars. It's the perfect size for 1 lb of pasta.


Marinara
#10 can tomato puree
1 large onion chopped
2 large carrots grated
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic minced
2 Tbsp. dried basil
1 Tbsp. oregano
1 Tbsp. marjoram
salt and pepper to taste

Sweat onion and carrots in olive oil for 20 minutes, until soft. Combine everything in large pot, simmer for 4 hours.
I usually pressure can this in pint jars. Often I mix it with half and half or cream to serve.

Bolognese Sauce
2 onions, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, grated
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 lb. ground veal, beef or venison
1 lb. ground pork (fatty)
6 slices bacon, chopped
28 ounces tomato puree
1 cup half and half or cream
1 tsp. thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Put tomato puree in large pot with garlic slices, half and half or cream, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook bacon until render and crispy, put in pot. Sweat onion, celery, and carrot in bacon fat, put in pot.
Brown meats, put in pot. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Use in lasagne or with fresh tagliatelle. I usually freeze half of the sauce for another time.

havin g to white the drool off the keyboard
I lover good marinara sauce
If making from scratch I
start with crushed tomatoes
basil
oregano
onion
garlic.
my biggest problem is I think I cook it too long
never could get a homemade sauce as good as some of my favorite Italian restaurants, none of which are chains.
which I won't name here unless asked

I have to make my own sauces, because of food allergies. It was a challenge to come up with a spaghetti sauce recipe that did not include peppers or onions, but eventually I came up with one that's good enough no one notices what's missing.

(This recipe assumes dried herbs. If using fresh, use your best judgment.)

Seasoning:
1 large clove of garlic (or the equivalent in smaller cloves)
1 heaping TBSP Basil
1 heaping TBSP Oregano
1 heaping TBSP Parsley
1 generous dash Thyme
1 pinch Summer Savory
1 dash Ginger
1 cube Beef Bouillon
1 TBSP Molasses (or 1 finely diced beet)

Sauce:
1-2 quarts tomato puree
1-2 pounds ground beef
Olive oil and/or butter

Note: If you plan on letting this simmer for a long time, hold off on the oregano until 5-10 minutes before serving. It turns bitter if overcooked.

Peel the garlic and slice it thin. Saute the slices lightly in the oil, until they just barely change color. Add the meat and brown it, stirring frequently. When the meat is browned, add the herbs except oregano. Let them cook for 1 minute, mixing constantly to keep them from burning. Add tomato puree and bouillon. Heat until it starts to simmer, then add molasses and oregano. Let it simmer a few minutes, then taste, and add salt or more bouillon if needed.

We had a big crop of delicious tomatoes in 2020 so I canned a bunch of puree that was earmarked for sauce.  Grew stripped Roman's from Johnny's for the first time and it was a favorite.  Flavorful enough for any fresh eating but surprisingly large fruits of a paste shape and type.  To save space I peeled them by blanching, squeezed out as much of the seeds as possible and then pureed them and cooked them down to a thick puree.  I water-bath canned them without salt but with 1 tblsp. lemon juice to make sure there was enough acidity.  This tastes great straight out of the jar so I don't do much to it.  Here's my "fast" sauce which tastes more like a long cooked one because of the pre-processing of the puree:

Lightly saute garlic to taste in some oil
Home canned thick puree
Oregano and basil
Dry red wine if I have it otherwise a small splash of balsamic vinegar - not a lot because the lemon already adds a bit of acidity
Sugar to taste (I like an acid sauce so very little for me)
S&P

If I want a more traditional marinara I start with sauteeing chopped onions and celery, then add the garlic when the other veg are translucent. I add some tomato paste which I "fry" in a little added oil, then add puree, broth (veg or meat, whatever floats your boat), dry red wine, basil, oregano, a little fresh parsley if I have it and a whole carrot for sweetening (which gets pulled out at the end)  When done I adjust acidity with a little sugar and correct salt and pepper.

My personal opinion about cooking time is either do a quick sauce, which I like with fresh tomatoes, or a really long cooked sauce.  Because in between doesn't work for me.

I hardly ever cook by recipe, but there are some concepts I follow when I make tomato sauce.

In my mind the classic marinara flavor comes from a combination of tomatoes, celery, onions, and garlic.

I start with something that has fat in it, either ground chicken thighs, or butter, or oil.

Get that warm (and if I'm using meat then I brown it first).

Then put in the celery, onions, and garlic. I also add vegetable ingredients based on what we've got - add mushrooms, eggplant, spinach, bok choy, etc.

Then I add seasoning, at minimum salt and pepper, but I often add some ketchup here.

And let all of them caramelize.

Once caramelized I add canned tomatoes, then simmer until it's a nice saucy consistency.

No recipe to share, as I never make it the same way twice. It’s always dependent on what ingredients are at hand. But one thing I learned about acidity, if that’s a problem, is to peel and core an apple, and cut it in half. The two halves go in the sauce for the entire time, and get removed at the end. The apple absorbs or neutralizes the acidity. The other ‘weird’ thing I do, is use about 1/4 cup of blackstrap molasses. This will slightly sweeten the sauce, but what it really does is add a surprising richness to the flavor.

I can take or leave tomatoes, so have had no real urge to can or freeze a bunch.  (But I like to grow them!).  I recently tried roasting them, and found they were totally delicious!  Next summer, I'll roast a batch as often as possible, then puree the reduced amount, and freeze for future sauces.  Also, will keep skins, seeds, gel, etc, as I think that's where a lot of the nutrients are, and the handy dandy stick blender 'disappears' them  :)

BTW, Martha Hazan's extremely popular recipe - NYT - "just simmer a can of tomatoes with an onion and five tablespoons of butter. Add a pinch of salt and pull out the onion at the end, and you’re left with a bright, velvety tomato sauce with a rich roundness from the butter. The butter doesn’t saw off the edges of the tomatoes’ tanginess in the way that sugar does; instead it complements the brightness and makes it shine.  This tomato sauce is also entirely hands-off; you don’t even mince the onion. It’s a great way to knock a meal together with a few cupboard staples. Serve it over pasta with a flurry of cheese, and enjoy tomato sauce with the flair of restaurant richness ..."  

I'll have to try it... can't imagine why it is so popular.

I find the long slow cook negates any need for sugar.

Stacy Witscher wrote:I find the long slow cook negates any need for sugar.

Yes, I didn't really mention this in my list of concepts, but it's a really good point.

Tomatoes are full of sugar and umami. They're also full of water, which dilutes both. If you boil off most of the water you get tomato paste. If you've ever tasted straight tomato paste, you'll know how intense the flavor is. I like to aim for 50% of the way to tomato paste. Just enough water left to let the sauce move around the noodles.

nancy sutton wrote:BTW, Martha Hazan's extremely popular recipe - NYT - "just simmer a can of tomatoes with an onion and five tablespoons of butter. Add a pinch of salt and pull out the onion at the end, and you’re left with a bright, velvety tomato sauce with a rich roundness from the butter. The butter doesn’t saw off the edges of the tomatoes’ tanginess in the way that sugar does; instead it complements the brightness and makes it shine.  This tomato sauce is also entirely hands-off; you don’t even mince the onion. It’s a great way to knock a meal together with a few cupboard staples. Serve it over pasta with a flurry of cheese, and enjoy tomato sauce with the flair of restaurant richness ..."  

I'll have to try it... can't imagine why it is so popular.

Nancy, Thanks for sharing this info.  I have been looking at my food storage and trying to come up with ways to use up the cans of diced tomatoes.  BTW, these all have expired "good-by" dates.

That recipes sound like a great way to use some of them!

This is my favourite pasta / tomato sauce Pork Rib Ragu

2 large carrots, coarsely chopped
2 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 pounds meaty pork spareribs or baby back ribs,cut into pieces of 3 to 4 ribs each
2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1/2 cup beef broth
1-1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons flour
¼ cup water
Cooked egg noodles or pasta of your choice
How to make it
1 In a large slow cooker, combine the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Place the meat over the vegetables, overlapping as necessary,

2 In a medium bowl, stir together the tomatoe sauce, broth, vinegar, oregano, thyme, and salt. Pour the mixture over the ribs, then cover and cook on low until the meat is tender and begins to separate from the bone, 6 to 8 hours. low temp 200 high 300

3 Using a slotted spoon, remove the ribs from the sauce and let them cool slightly. Remove the meat from the bones and shred it.

4 In a small cup, whisk together the flour and water until smooth. If needed, skim the fat from the pot, then stir the mixture into the sauce. Increase the heat to high and cook uncovered, until thickened, about 15 minutes. Stir in the meat, and heat 5 minutes more. Serve the ragu over egg noodles or pasta.

My method for the last decade or so has been the crock pot. Pre- sauté onions and fresh garlic/ginger, preferably in bacon fat. Dump in two big cans of tomatoes. Parm rinds if I have them. A good bit of spinach. Bit of orange zest and a bit of the juice too. Lots of Basil/oregano/thyme. Glug of red wine. Sometimes leftover veg if they seem compatible (nothing cruciferous). Cook on low for a good 6 hours at least. Brown a pound of ground beef or pork or whatever meat is handy and add it for the last hour or so … too long and the flavor all leaches out into the sauce. Lastly half a stick of butter just so it melts in.

Reaction to running across a Mark Bitman recipe that is pretty much the same as something I learned from brother Michael c. 1990. The link for the video follows. Note that we have always just left the garlic in the sauce, consequences be damned. Our tomatoes and basil are producing at this very moment.
We hosted an exchange student from France some years back, not too long after my older brother, an incurable italophile, taught me how to make this. Jerome's parents had warned us that he was somewhat fussy about what he would eat, so we were surprised when we served this for lunch one day (leaving the garlic in the sauce), and I had already put the last bit in my bowl when I noticed Jerome with an empty bowl and a look as though I ought to rethink where the rest of it went. He lapped it all up and would have eaten more, as I would have. Thanks for putting this up. It's right there with the old NYT video about no-knead bread that also upset some of our kitchen routines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9GhEVsIqgk

I had been getting tons of requests for my tomato sauce recipe after people had tried my version (not trying to brag, I really didn't think it was something most would like).  Trouble is, there wasn't a recipe that I followed and I used my own taste after years of trying to make my parent's tomato sauce better.  Eventually, the harassment got enough that I made this "guide" for my tomato sauce.  I'm always tweaking it.  This year I'm trying some sweeter cherry tomatoes to brighten it a little.  If you can use it, great.  We eat something with tomato sauce 1-2 times a week and I haven't bought a jar of sauce in years.  My kids no longer prefer the sweeter, higher sodium, refined sauces from the store which is the real win for me.

Homesteader’s Special Tomato Sauce


I started canning tomatoes as a child with my parents.  While I loved most everything coming out of our garden, the tomato sauce my parents made was thin, plain, and uninspired.  The sauce would often leave an orange-red puddle under the noodles.  This was nothing like the sauce from a grocery store or restaurant.  As I started canning on my own, I began tinkering with recipes.  I looked at Italian grandma’s recipes, preserving cookbooks, and culinary blogs; and I continued to experiment.

The first big breakthrough was that I was using the wrong tomatoes.  The Mortgage Lifter and Big Boy tomatoes my parents grew make great slicers (BLTs were my dad’s favorite supper once the tomatoes came in).  They are far too watery for a hearty sauce, however.  More on tomatoes later.  The second breakthrough was the art of the simmer.  Even watery tomatoes can make a great sauce, you just may be simmering the pasta for a few days to get it to thicken enough.  This is definitely a weekend project, as this sauce can require simmering for as much as 25 hours or more.  This is a Special Tomato Sauce after all. There are far quicker sauces on the internet.  This is a rich, robust sauce for lovers of rich robust sauces that can be used on pizza, pasta, cacciatore and pot roast.

To achieve the flavor of the sauce I make in my kitchen, it starts with the tomatoes you use.  For me it starts with planting.  I plant equal numbers of San Marzano and Purple Cherokee tomatoes.  San Marzano is a traditional paste style tomato used in sauce recipes.  This is THE Italian Grandmother tomato.  Roma tomatoes can work just as well and are often easier to find.  Purple Cherokee are a heritage tomato with a richer flavor, higher acidity, less sweetness, and a deeper color.  I think most heritage tomatoes will work just as well but the flavor profile and color may change which could be good for you or your family.  I’ve stuck with these two varieties for my sauce because of how well they produce in my garden and the first Killer sauce I made used these two types.  Feel free to experiment and find ones that work for you and your garden.  I’m trying Ukrainian Heritage Tomatoes this year in a small batch.

Ingredients

Peeled Tomatoes (Fill a large stock pot; I don’t seed) 22 qt stock pot filled to 2-3” from top last batch was 20% heritage and the rest San Marzano.  I freeze as I go every few days by peeling and coring the tops, then placing in a freezer bag.  I thaw them when I have enough tomatoes to make a large batch.

Onion, carrot, leek, garlic (Or whatever might be growing in your garden) 2 large onion, four carrots, and six medium heads of garlic (garlic roasted in the oven wrapped in aluminum foil with olive oil, then squeezed into the sauce)

Basil (Fresh)4 oz. after cleaning and roughly chopping

Herbs (Thyme, Sage is what I use primarily fresh or dried) about the same as the basil when added together.  I used fresh this time around.  Oregano is also a favorite herb along with savory.  I usually keep oregano out of my primary sauce just because oregano can be polarizing.  I’ll still add it when I cook, though.

Red Wine (I use a Bota Box blend) 1 cup, half cup for cooking the veggies in and the rest for flavor.

Apple Cider Vinegar 1/4 cup, but this varies quite a bit by taste.  I’ve added as much as 2 cups and as little as a few splashes.

Sugar (Optional; I use Maple Syrup, Brown or Turbinado Sugar and only if my family thinks it needs sweetening which it usually doesn’t for us) None this last batch or my earlier batch.  Start with ¼ cup if it needs it.

Tools

Large Stock Pot with lid

Immersion Blender

Instructions

Fill a large stock pot with your peeled tomatoes.  Give them a rough mash with a long handled wooden spoon to release the fluid inside.  Add a few heavy pinches of salt.
Bring the tomatoes to a low boil, then reduce and simmer.  This will be a loooong process.  Be sure you are regularly stirring to avoid burning the sauce.  The sauce will get very heavy at the bottom while more watery on the top.  Overnight I will put the lid on askew and put the pot on my lowest burner to slow the evaporation but keep the sauce warm to avoid burning the bottom.  My longest simmering time was 25 hours.  If your tomatoes have more liquid, it will take even longer.  It reduces in volume slower and slower the longer you simmer
While you’re simmering the tomatoes, start a large sautee pan with some butter or your preferred frying oil and the diced vegetables.  Onion, carrot, leek, and a few heads of garlic I roast on the grill with olive oil go in at this point.  Add salt and pepper.
Sautee vegetables for about 15 minutes or until they are starting to get blackened on the edges.
Add a cup of wine to the veggies bringing it to a boil before reducing and allowing to simmer.  Add some dried herbs to the pan to your taste.  Once the wine is reduced, dump the vegetables into the stockpot.
Now, it’s time to take a break.  I’ll take all my trimmings at this point and make it into a stock.  You’ll want to make sure you don’t forget about your sauce, but it does not need constant attention.  Once the sauce is reduced by about a third, start tasting the sauce.
Now you should start adjusting the sauce to your preferences.  First add the apple cider vinegar, about a half cup to start.  Some will add lemon juice to brighten the sauce and add acidity instead of vinegar.  Add a handful of fresh chopped basil.  
After it cooks for another 20 minutes, give it another taste and adjust again.  Basil for herbaceousness, wine for body, apple cider vinegar/lemon juice for acidity.  Don’t add any sweetener, yet.  The tomatoes are still reducing and concentrating their flavor.  Continue this process of cooking and adjusting the flavor to your preference.
Once the flavor is where you would like it, aside from the sweetness, hit the sauce with your immersion blender.  If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use a food processor or blender in batches.  Don’t overblend.  You’re looking to break up the tomato flesh and incorporate some of the vegetables, but overblending will make the sauce lose body and the chunkiness of your vegetables.
Now begin looking at the consistency.  You can get an idea for how thick it is by dipping the spoon in vertically and lifting it out.  If the water is still running off quickly, it needs more simmering.  This is where I continue simmering until I get a consistency similar to a store-bought jar.  
Now add the sugar to your taste.  You can make some noodles and throw a little sauce on them to let the family try some.  The sauce is done and ready for storage.

Storage

Freezing: Zippered freezer bags or vacuum sealing both work.  Portion out your bags and lay flat in the freezer until frozen to make them easier to store and take up less space.
Water Bath Canning: Water bath canning works well for this recipe.  Citric acid (which doesn’t alter the flavor a lot) is a good additive to make sure your pH is low enough for water bath canning.  If you have the ability to measure pH, you’ll want a value of 4.6 or lower to water bath can safely.
Pressure Canning: I usually pressure can my tomato sauce.  This way, I don’t have to worry about pH and I know my sauce will keep for at least a year.  This comes with some drawbacks.  Large pressure canners aren’t cheap and processing takes longer because you need to wait for the canner pressure to let up before you can open the canner and put the next batch in.

Notes

Store-bought spaghetti sauce usually comes in 24 oz. jars.  A pint is 16 oz. and a quart is 32 oz.  The sauce can go a long way, so a pint might be plenty for a household of 2-3.  I can some of both for sharing and use the smaller jars for pizza, sides and grinders.  Otherwise, I use quarts primarily for my family of four.  You can store unused sauce in the fridge for later, like a grilled sandwich condiment or as marinara dip for crostinis.

simple yet complex is my friend to taste
Italian red sauce crys out for onion, lots of garlic, oregano, basil, thyme, maybe a bay leaf or 2 and bell pepper if for meat or sausage and is best cooked low and slow for not too long. Do not be shy when adding these spices the tomato taste will be complemented. but then again it can be overdone. when cooking remember, you can always add more but once in cannot be removed.
no sugar, no salt
I was once told by a great grandmother who was a very popular local Italian cook if there is sugar in the gravy/sauce it might just be in there to hide something.
living far away from any place to eat a decent meal forces me to cook, usually a big pot or pan full of something about every week.
I was recently complemented by some older cooks, one who wrote a cookbook others Italians that know the food of the old country that my lasagna and eggplant casserole were as good if not better than any restaurant. its gone to my head, I have half of the third lasagna in the past 6 weeks in refrigerator right now.

I find the use of sugar to be highly individualized.  I tend to be anti sugar, but I do use a sweet wine.  My wife is pro sugar. Any acid taste from the tomatoes bugs her.

I also tend to be anti-sugar in my tomato based sauces, while John is pro-sugar in them. We usually compromise, with a very tiny amount.

Arrabbiata sauce is my favorite, which I discovered while in Rome with my Dad when he had me tag along for an academic conference the summer after my freshman year of college. It is a spicy tomato based sauce usually served with penne, and maybe a bit of romano cheese if desired. It was excellent on hot afternoons, and we were getting then record high temperature's on that trip over 20yrs ago. I also became acutely aware of the cooling value of evapotranspiration and provisioning for fresh mountain water even in urban areas at places like the Trevi fountain, where the aquaducts sheet water over marble and noticably cool the piazza around it. This was likely an adaptation from ancient Persian designs.

https://www.savoringitaly.com/easy-penne-all-arrabbiata-spicy-tomato-sauce-recipe/

nancy sutton wrote:

BTW, Martha Hazan's extremely popular recipe - NYT - "just simmer a can of tomatoes with an onion and five tablespoons of butter. Add a pinch of salt and pull out the onion at the end, and you’re left with a bright, velvety tomato sauce with a rich roundness from the butter. The butter doesn’t saw off the edges of the tomatoes’ tanginess in the way that sugar does; instead it complements the brightness and makes it shine.  This tomato sauce is also entirely hands-off; you don’t even mince the onion. It’s a great way to knock a meal together with a few cupboard staples. Serve it over pasta with a flurry of cheese, and enjoy tomato sauce with the flair of restaurant richness ..."  

I'll have to try it... can't imagine why it is so popular.

I use this sauce all the time. It's amazing. Do not scimp on the butter! And I don't remove the onion, I blitz the sauce after letting it just blip for 20 mins. And it's a great base for meat sauces too.