I am not the first person to have fallen in love with this recipe and I won’t be the last. In fact I am back in a Marcella Hazan phase all because of it. I actually do not have the book this one came from, I have 3 of her books but this recipe comes from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. Someone on the Chowhound forums brought it up and it struck my curiosity. Then I noticed several other bloggers had fallen for it too: The Amateur Gourmet, masak-masak, and I Like to Cook. I highly suggest you try this recipe, it is dead easy and cheap too. I splurged and bought nice san marzano tomatoes but even with those the dish cost less then $5 for two people.
1 large can Italian plum tomatoes
5 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, peeled and cut in half
1T salt
pasta
Parmagianno-Reggiano cheese, grated
1. Put the tomatoes in a saucepan and with very clean kitchen scissors cut them up. Add the butter, onion and salt and bring to a light simmer.
2. Cook uncovered for 45 minutes or until the fat floats from the tomato. Stir occasionally, using a wooden spoon to mash any large piece of tomato. Taste and correct for salt. Discard onion and toss sauce with pasta. Serve with grated cheese.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve seen this recipe and have been wanting to try it. Do you use San Marazano tomatos? Does the butter really do that much a difference. It sounds so intriguing.
The butter really does that much of a difference yes. I did use San Marzano tomatoes, but next time I think I will try it with regular to see just what kind of a difference it makes.
Katerina,
That pasta looks incredible! I’ve read about butter/tomato sauces before but have never tried them. This is on my list of recipes to try!