Best tomato sauce for pasta ever

[Shoxfordian]

In case you haven't tried it

www.thekitchn.com/marcella-hazans-amazing-4ingre-144538

It's basically 1 tin of tomatoes cooked on a medium heat with half an onion and 5 tablespoons of butter for 45 minutes or so. A bit of stirring now and then.

It's so so good. Really rich and delicious. We didn't have anything else with it, just parmesan and pasta. Yum.

I made it today.
Did one regular 400g tin with 5tbsp butter, and the onion.
It was nice, but definitely not authentic Italian pasta al pomodoro type stuff.
I prefer the Delia one I mentioned, but it is sooo time consuming.

I have discovered - and I really hope someone can explain - that when I used my mini hand chopper (the one with the zig zag blade that you push down on a spring onto the food below) to chop the onions for a pomodoro sauce, the sauce comes out much nicer than if I chop the onion with a knife.

The version I do (upthread) with long slow cooking is delicious!

I think olive oil would be much healthier, as it's an unsaturated fat.

Butter is fine.

I also made this today! For the first time.
The butter took away the tartness of the tomatoes and the taste was nice but the butter created a bit of an oil slick around the edges of the pan.

It was ok, wasn't greasy to eat but 'heavy' (sickly?) in a weird way.

I've got mine on the hob now - has been bubbling away for a good couple of hours. Tastes alright but I'm not blown away so far - still a bit metallic and I used decent chopped tomatoes (Cirio). I'm really tempted to blend, onions (I also added a couple of whole garlic cloves) and all to give it a bit more oomph. Has anyone ever done that?

Olive oil may or may be 'more healthy', but the point is that the sauce is DELICIOUS, rather than it being a health-aid.

I think because the recipe is so simple, the ingredients have to be top notch. Usually San Marzano tomatoes are called for. I wouldn't use pre-chopped tomatoes, they're usually the least tasty.

For those saying their tomatoes aren't sweet, try Napolina ones. They're really red and rich compared to cheaper/own brand ones. They're often half price at Tesco, so you can sometimes get 4 loose cans cheaper than a 4 pack, just stock up when they're on offer.

Definitely going to try this recipe. I remember making a Delia recipe for ragu when I was younger that took hours in the oven and had milk in it. The richness of dairy really helps to sweeten and soften the tartness of tomatoes.

I agree ragingewhorebag (love the username - it would be a good one for me....), I love diary with cooked tomatoes. Anna del Contenputs milk and butter in her ragu recipe, which is cooked low and long, and it is utterly delicious.

Mine's been made and eaten, with vegetarian meatballs and pasta. It was lovely and so much simpler than the ragu one I normally make. I did add another tin of toms, so 2 tins to 5tbl spoon of butter. My onion fell apart so I pushed it all through a sieve at the end. Lovely, the DC didn't even talk over dinner which is unheard of!

I made this last night to go with pasta and meatballs (pork & turkey mince with red onion, garlic, lemon & rosemary) and it was a huge hit.
I misjudged what a 28oz can of tins is (fyi its two of our 400g ones ;) ) so we had loads of sauce left. It will be my go to sauce from now on.

Best tomato brand I've found is Mutti

I've been laid up in bed with a nasty infection since Monday, trawling through MN in order to relieve some boredom and came across this thread.

Today is the first day I've made it out of bed and been able to eat, and DP made this pasta sauce for us both tonight. Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is absolutely going to be our new go to pasta sauce - especially as we both work FT, so it's easily rustled up and batch cooked.

If you find your tomato sauce a bit too tangy, in a teacup add 3 spoons of vinegar mixed with 3 spoons brown sugar, mix in the teacup then add into the sauce

Hmmm. Butter and tomatoes. Mouth says yes. Guts beg to differ.

Sounds fab! Dairy definitely does something to counteract the tartness/sweetness of tomatoes. The best Bolognese sauce I've ever made has 400ml of full fat milk in it. Takes ages to cook but is amazing! www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwifr9Wf9tXiAhVu1-AKHVzrCWwQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbcgoodfood.com%2Frecipes%2Fnext-level-spaghetti-bolognese&psig=AOvVaw36PkmyT5BGQbQphnoc7W_8&ust=1559947184498335.

That recipe sounds amazing titsywoo. I wonder if it could be done in the slow cooker all day instead of 3 hrs in the oven?

There is also meatballs and a carbonara recipe. I'm lying in bed wanting carbonara at 7.45am

Sorry op, your sauce sounds delish too, will definitely be trying that

Glad it's worked out well for some of you!
The bolognese sounds lovely too.

I've bought the Marcella Hazan recipe book, it has so much nice stuff in it.. haven't made anything else yet but will let you know

I've got mine on the job as we speak 😋

*hob. On the hob ffs

Thanks OP for sharing this, I'm going to buy the book too.

Probably ssd although I'd do the mince and sausage in the pan first as it's supposed to be very well browned (almost crispy although I never cook it for the 40 mins they suggest!)