I have been making spaghetti sauce all my adult life. It is somewhat different than my mother’s and has evolved over many years of married life.
Both of our versions are cooked with meat, usually pork, and served with meatballs, sausage and the pork itself, which becomes very tender after hours of cooking. I always add lots of chopped, fresh basil, sweet onion and Italian parsley, but never carrot or celery. And as a matter of full disclosure, I do make my sauce with a little sugar to take the sour edge off the sometimes not-too-sweet, canned tomatoes. Rosemary’s sauce has been the star of many of our family meals (usually Sundays) and the subject of several cooking columns in TheBurg (beginning in 2009!).
But upon reading an Italian cookbook by Giuliano Hazan, I was struck by a recipe he attributed to his late mother, Marcella Hazan. Now, Marcella has been described by some as the “Mother of Italian cooking in America.” Apparently, when Marcella arrived from Italy (Bologna, in northern Italy), she was not impressed by what passed for Italian cooking in restaurants in the United States. She also disliked Parmesan cheese sold in cardboard green containers and bottled sauces loaded with salt and preservatives stocked on grocery store shelves.
Marcella prized authentic cooking ingredients from Italy and, above all, fresh ones when available. While her cookbooks contain recipes for many varieties of pasta sauces (including her famous Bolognese sauce), a simple tomato butter sauce is her family’s favorite. It is especially good with filled pastas like tortellini or ravioli and rich dishes like lasagna with layers of egg-whipped ricotta cheese.
Does it matter the type of ingredients that are used for this simple sauce? Yes! Marcella used San Marzano tomatoes, a variety of plum tomato known for their quality and flavor. San Marzano tomatoes originate in a small town near Naples and are the classic ingredient in Neapolitan pizza. Italian cooks might use fresh ones, but here, canned ones can be found on your grocery store shelf. You might pass them by because they are much more expensive than the generic store brand but buy them if you can. They are worth it!
Next, use good, sweet cream butter. No margarine here (or ever, for me). And don’t skip the onion. You don’t even have to chop it. Kosher salt is best, but only use salt if your canned tomatoes are unsalted. Taste the tomatoes first. This sauce is so easy. Simmer “softly” and don’t allow the mixture to scorch.
Marcella’s Simple Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 28 oz. can whole peeled, San Marzano tomatoes with their juice
- 6 tablespoons sweet cream (unsalted butter)
- Kosher salt to taste
- 1 medium sweet onion (like Vidalia) peeled and cut in half
Directions
- Put the tomatoes in a bowl and coarsely chop them with 2 knives or crush them with a fork. Place them in a small, heavy pot (an enameled cast iron one, like a Le Creuset, works well).
- Taste for salt and add a little if you wish.
- Peel the onion, trim the root end, and cut it in half.
- Place the onion in the saucepan along with the butter.
- Place the pan over medium heat. When the mixture begins to bubble, lower the heat. Simmer until it is no longer watery and the sauce is reduced and thickened. When it’s done, you won’t see any more liquid in the pan (about 45 minutes).
- Toss it with traditional pasta or, as mentioned above, tortellini or ravioli. It is wonderful with sauteed shrimp, scallops and calamari. My mother would toss cooked green beans and little white potatoes with the sauce. It is surprisingly good.
An interesting note: Another well-known Italian chef and cookbook author, Giada De Laurentiis, has her own version of a “simple tomato sauce.” She adds some fresh basil and Parmesan cheese rinds (good idea to try). But the main difference is her use of canned, skinless cherry tomatoes, which she is selling on her new website, Giadzy. At $8.50 for each (relatively small) can, I decided to wait and think about it. Maybe down the road!
I think you will like these simple sauces—even on a weeknight. The beautiful taste of tomato, just tomato, will flavor many of your dishes. They are sauces for all seasons.
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