What would Pasta be without "Sauce"?: Recipe

Well tonight's dinner was perfectly yummy but it was not the intended meal. I try to follow the weekly menus I set up on Sunday nights but when I opened the container of sour cream I had in the fridge, it seemed that perhaps it didn't smell quite right...not bad, per se, just not quite right (it was not opened previously). So I smelled again. And again. And then I looked on the bottom for the date. YIKES! Did it really say "jan 9 2008"??? Yikes. It went in the garbage instantly. So there went the Alfredo sauce.

Sauce. What would pasta be without it? Sticky. Boring. Pasty.

So sauce - whatever kind you make - is really the finishing touch, of course. I made a quick but irresistible tomato sauce that cooked while the water boiled and the pasta cooked. It's Marcella's recipe but I know it in my head as:

Simple, Sweet, Tomato Sauce

1 32 oz. can of San Marzano Plum Tomatoes
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1 med-large onion, peeled and halved
1 lbs. pasta

Bring water to a boil for the pasta. In a saucepan, combine remaining ingredients. Submerge the onion and the butter. Cook on a low, low simmer - do not let boil. Mix occasionally as the fat from the butter will separate and float to the top. Mix it back into the sauce being careful not to disturb the onion (don't let it fall apart).


Let sauce simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove onion halves and with a stick blender, puree sauce in the saucepan until lighter and creamy (about 1 minute).