Marcella Hazan’s 3 ingredient tomato sauce is considered a classic. It’s the simplest of tomato sauces, but I’ve only made it once and wasn’t blown away. In need of some comfort food recently (can you relate?), I was craving spaghetti and meatballs. Something (like laziness) convinced me to try it again and this time it was a much better success. For a pound of pasta:
Marcella Hazan’s 3 Ingredient Tomato Sauce
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half
- 2 cups canned imported whole Italian tomatoes, mashed up, with their juice
- Salt to taste
Melt the butter in a saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Put the onion, cut side down in the melted butter. Add the tomatoes and salt, and cook uncovered at a very slow, but steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until it is thickened to your liking.
Stir from time to time, mashing up any large pieces of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon.
Remove the onion, taste and correct for salt. Serve with your favorite pasta and enjoy!
My verdict:
So much better this time and it couldn’t be simpler! From now on, this will probably be my go-to recipe for tomato sauce. I used 2 small (14 oz) cans of good San Marzano tomatoes and that made all the difference. When tomatoes are the star, they have to be great. Marcella’s original recipe calls for fresh or canned tomatoes, and the first time I made it I used fresh. Not worth it. Fresh have to be peeled and chopped, adding time and energy and unless it’s August, they’ll never have the taste of really good canned tomatoes.
You can leave the onion in, or save it and use it for___? I used the sauce as is to cook meatballs in, but adding some basil, or garlic would probably be fine. I’m wondering about substituting cut garlic cloves for the onion—next time?
I used a red onion for this batch, if you’re wondering what the purple bumps in the photo are.
