So, hello, everyone. This is my first post as a contributor here and I’m very excited! I can’t wait to share my recipes and ideas with you all. Today I’m sharing one of my favorites that’s super easy to make even if you aren’t the best cook (I promise).
When it’s like, 200 degrees out, you do not want to be making something that takes hours over a hot stove. Nuh-uh. It’s too much. Even if you have the A/C crankin’ you still don’t want to be standing stirring something, sweating.
Wow, alliteration! My 8th grade English teacher Mrs. Clarey would be proud.
Anyway, I’ve been making this sauce for a couple of years now. Mainly in the summertime, but I’ve been known to make it in a double batch on a cold day. It’s my go-to simple sauce recipe because of a few reasons: 1) it’s easy, 2) it tastes delicious, 3) it’s quick to make and 4) it’s EXCELLENT on both pasta and homemade pizza. And it’s also amazing on crusty bread with a thick slice of fresh mozzarella. Yum.
And best of all? There are 4 main ingredients, shown above, and two minor ingredients (sugar and salt). That’s just 6 ingredients in all. And in 20 minutes, you’ve got a delicious sauce, ready to eat. Also, it can be made with peeled whole canned tomatoes as well, if you prefer a chunkier sauce. Just crush ’em in the pot with your hands before adding the other ingredients.
- 2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons fresh finely chopped basil (or use dried basil, just less of it, 'cause it's stronger), or just throw in a few basil leaves, which is what I like to do
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter (unsalted or salted, whichever you have)
- 1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- Put all ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat, bring to a simmer, then lower heat and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove onion before tossing sauce with the pasta, saucing your pizza or using in your baked pasta dish. I just throw the onion away, but maybe there's another use you can think of for it.
I like to eat it on a sweltering hot summer evening, with more fresh basil on top, sprinkled with parmigiano reggiano, and with a cold glass of San Pellegrino. I happen to grow my own basil in our garden, so it’s easy to just go snip however much I want. If you choose to use dried basil that’s fine too!
The butter imparts an amazing, velvety richness to the sauce. You can’t achieve that with olive oil! If you’ve never had a tomato sauce with butter before, you have to try this.
And yes, if you grow your own tomatoes (I do too!), you can certainly use them in this sauce! Let them get ripe or even a little overripe, then just get rid of the stem part and chop ’em up. Throw ’em in a pot (skin, seeds and all!) and add the rest of the ingredients. You’ll need about 10- 12 tomatoes to equal one 28-ounce can. You can also steam peel the tomatoes for a more “canned” tomato feeling. I would recommend doing this only if you grow such an exorbitant amount of tomatoes that you need to use them or you grow Roma/Sam Marzano/Amish Paste tomatoes specifically to use them in sauce. Otherwise- save the fresh tomatoes for eating fresh. There’s nothing wrong with a good can of tomatoes!
This sauce is also very good with toasted pine nuts sprinkled on top.
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We are so excited to have the talented Marilla from Cupcake Rehab sharing her delicious recipes and amazing photography with us! We look forward to trying every single thing she shares here!
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and check out these other great posts of hers…
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Great post, Marilla! Your pictures have me drooling all over my work keyboard, haha! I’m a HUGE spaghetti chick. We eat it once a week in my casa and I’m thinking this recipe will most definitely be the next one I make (or husband makes LOL).
Thanks Ariana! Try it, I promise you’ll see it’s super easy to make… even when compared to just cracking open a jar!
This sauce would be much tastier and better for you if you use a wand mixer to blend the onion in.
Personally I think it is well worth the extra time to sweat the onion in butter or olive oil first-
the depth and complexity of the flavour is so much greater.
I said its a hot weather dish I want to avoid anyone sweating 😉
But then that would change the name from the “easiest sauce ever” to “more complex sauce with more steps.” That and not everyone has the kitchen skill to understand what ‘sweating an onion’ is, nor does everyone have a kitchen wand, nor does everyone have the time for that. Which is why a lot of people avoid making sauce to begin with- they think it’s time consuming and difficult or that they need special equipment. This one takes 20 minutes from start to finish and involves nothing but a pot.
Plus I don’t like to mess much with Marcella Hazan recipes. They’re all superb the way they are. But thanks for your input!
I Like
Thanks!