If You Read My Blog, You Have to Make this.

You have to make this. I'm not kidding. I've already sounded the alarm for my family and close friends. This isn't even a recipe I came up with, but it was so amazing I need to share it. Look at the picture. That's all it takes. Tomatoes. Butter. Onion. Salt. You can make it, and you should. 

This recipe inspiration came from none other than.... food52. You guys can tell me if you have been using this recipe for years and years, but I have not. It is such a delightful find due to it's simplicity and depth of flavor. 

I kind of feel like I'm abandoning my mom and grandma because I basically grew up surviving on spaghetti and meatballs. (Not really, but it was a staple). But when they both test out this recipe, they will understand why we must add it to our repertoire of tomato sauces.

For all you cooks out there that have your trademark tomato sauce, give this one a shot. I promise you will be a believer.

Tomato Sauce with Onions and Butter

(by Marcella Hazan)

1-2 lbs fresh tomatoes (blanched, peeled and roughly chopped)

3-5 tbsp butter (depending on how many tomatoes you use)

1 medium onion (peeled and halved)

sea salt

I have adapted this recipe only minutely. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cut an "X" on the bottom of each tomato. Blanche the tomatoes into the boiling water for 1 minute. No more! Drain, and when the tomatoes cool the skin should be easy to peel off. Cut up into rough chunks.

Toss the tomatoes, butter, onion and salt into a medium to large sauce pot. Simmer, uncovered over medium-low to medium heat for 45 minutes. Mash the tomatoes up occasionally with your mixing spoon so it turns into a fairly smooth sauce.

Taste and add salt as necessary. You can either choose to keep the onion (I broke it up a little bit with the spoon and kept some chunks) or you can discard it altogether. 

I served this sauce with sauteed garlic mushrooms over cappellini pasta. Serve the sauce however you like, with some freshly grated Italian cheese!