How To Make A Fabulous Italian Red Sauce In 3 Easy Steps

August 29, 2011

Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

—One 28-ounce can whole plum tomatoes (Cento San Marzano or Muir Glen Organic), tomatoes roughly chopped with their juices
—5 tablespoons salted butter
—1 medium yellow onion, peeled and halved

Heat a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add all of the ingredients and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low to keep a steady simmer. Cook for 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally. Separate the softened onion and use pieces as a garnish. Serve over cooked pasta.

Add Italian Sausages, meatballs, or grilled chicken to make a more hearty dish.

Yum!

Question: What is your favorite easy recipe?

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22 responses to “How To Make A Fabulous Italian Red Sauce In 3 Easy Steps”

Jay

August 30, 2011

I may be biased, but my wife makes the best sauce (She’s 100% Sicilian). You can get the recipe here:

http://sylviacaruso.tumblr.com/post/6254665336/tomato-sauce

It’s awesome and its not hard to make.

If you want to complicate things, check out her recipe for eggplant parmesan:

http://sylviacaruso.tumblr.com/post/6734454980/eggplant-parmesan

Randy Elrod

August 30, 2011

Wow! Jay, thanks. Her sauce will be on my table very soon!!!

Reply

August 29, 2011

Thank you for a real Italian sauce recipe! Too many Americans think what they make is Italian…but couldn’t be farther from the truth. You got it goin’ on! Simple. Delicious. Grazie mille! The key to making it authentic is to not add too much sauce and toss well before serving.

My recent fav:
Saute` a diced onion in good olive oil. Add ceci (garbanzo beans) and walnuts and saute` until hot. Add to truly al dente pasta (most people think they know what this means…they do not) and toss with a good pesto. Follow with a salad made from fresh ripe tomatoes chopped coarsely and tossed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt. Mmmm….

I also love this salad made by an Aussie friend: Toss chopped tomatoes, red pepper, zucchini, cucumber, steamed beets, garbanzo beans, and corn with a handful of mixed baby greens and dress with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt. Super yummy!

Randy Elrod

August 30, 2011

Yum, Iz!! So what does al dente REALLY mean? I don’t know if I know…

Reply
1. Iz
  
  August 30, 2011
  
  You have to experience it to know, Randy! :) But I can tell you the difference between al dente and overcooked is about 30 seconds. And I’ve never had al dente in the US. EVER. :) I heart Italy.
  
  Reply
  1. Randy Elrod
    
    August 30, 2011
    
    Nice, Iz!! I’m so jealous!!
    
    Reply

Jay

August 29, 2011

I may be biased, but my wife makes the best sauce (She’s 100% Sicilian). You can get the recipe here:

http://sylviacaruso.tumblr.com/post/6254665336/tomato-sauce

It’s awesome and its not hard to make.

If you want to complicate things, check out her recipe for eggplant parmesan:

http://sylviacaruso.tumblr.com/post/6734454980/eggplant-parmesan

Judy

August 29, 2011

Well. Just a big old YUM! Its what’s for dinner. Thanks!

Randy Elrod

August 29, 2011

Ha!!!

Reply

Vince

August 29, 2011

Black label burger:

>Clarify some butter

>Caramelize onions in the clarified butter

>Put a lot of sea salt and ground pepper in your beef, use the best organic stuff you can get your hands on.

>sauté in clarified butter. turn over every 30-40 seconds and drizzle more clarified butter, salt and pepper each time to you turn it over. Please don’t over cook it. Let it rest under a cover of some kind for a couple minute.

>Put it on a toasted kaiser roll with the caramelized onions only

Chris

August 29, 2011

I want this RIGHT NOW.

Reply
1. Randy Elrod
  
  August 29, 2011
  
  The burger or the red sauce or both?
  
  Reply
  1. Chris
    
    August 29, 2011
    
    Hmmm….Maybe the burger with a side of the sauce, like a revamped french dip.
    
    Reply
    1. Randy Elrod
      
      August 29, 2011
      
      Ha!!! A new recipe!!
      
      Reply
Randy Elrod

August 29, 2011

Yum, yum, yum, Vince!! Sounds so good!!

Reply
1. Vince
  
  August 29, 2011
  
  I know what I’m having for dinner
  
  Reply
  1. Randy Elrod
    
    August 30, 2011
    
    How was it?
    
    Reply
    1. vince
      
      August 30, 2011
      
      Three noms up
      
      Reply

Chris

August 29, 2011

I haven’t had a good, simple, tomato based pasta dish in a long time, and your post has motivated me to do make it again.

I love simple cooking, and write about it on my food blog (which I update far too infrequently). One of our favorite simple recipes is pasta with garlic, thyme, and anchovies. The short version is this: Barely cook some crushed garlic and anchovies in olive oil, along with some fresh thyme and crushed red pepper flakes, until the anchovies collapse. Stir in some cooked angel hair pasta or linguini, along with a big squeeze of lemon, then top with some chunky bread crumbs which you have toasted in olive oil in a pan.

The (only slightly) longer version is here.

If you haven’t read any Nigel Slater, I think you would like him. All of his recipes are simple and great. Appetite and The Kitchen Diaries are his best books.