The easiest Tomato Sauce Ever!


August 20 - Steak & grill roasted veggies cooked byt the Boy and MIL
August 21 - tacos with homemade corn tortillas & leftover chipotle mango pulled pork with a grilled corn salad
August 22 - Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter over spaghetti
August 23 -  chicken thighs braised in Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter with leftover corn salad

It's no secret that we love Italian food in our house.  It's my preferred food to cook and the Boy is a huge fan of carbs and cheese, which is easily worked into to many Italian dishes.  All this being said, it's rare that I ever just make spaghetti with a basic tomato sauce.  There's always some meat or veg included or the pasta is baked.  There's just always something else done to it.

Since before I started blogging there has been a tomato sauce recipe going around the web that has only 3 ingredients.  Now I don't use a ton of ingredients for my base sauce, but just three, seriously?!   It comes from Marcella Hazen's book The Essentials of Italian Cooking.  I honestly don't know why being the Italian food lover that I am I don't own this book, but after trying this sauce I'm absolutely getting it.




This is absolutely the perfect sauce for a weeknight, in that it takes less than an hour but is still ridiculously packed with flavor like you cooked it all day.  I chose to make it for it's ease, but also since I could use one of my few remaining jars of canned tomatoes from last summer.  It was absolutely a winner and let the flavor of the tomatoes really sing.  I understand if you feel some hesitation in the lack of fresh herbs in this sauce, I did at first.  But when I tell you it's perfect as is, please believe me and try it straight the first time.  The Boy commented that he thinks some basil thrown in at the end would be nice, but I was more than happy with it even without cheese!  It was so good that I braised some chicken thighs the next night in the leftovers.

Before I get into the recipe for this tasty sauce. I just wanted to ask one thing of our wonderful readers. Last week, Dianne and I both made a Peanut Butter Pie for Mikey, in support of a fellow blogger who lost her husband suddenly to a heart attack.  Jennie & her daughters are now trying to find a new normal now that their husband and father is gone.  Blogger Without Borders has started a fund to help ease the financial burden for Jennie.  You can either donate whatever money you can or can bid on a slew of fabulous auction items that bloggers from all over have donated.  Just click on the button below to make a donation.  And seriously every little bit counts.  If 1,000 people give $25 that $25,000 that can go towards health insurance and paying for their home. #afundforjennie

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Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter


1 liter jar whole peeled tomatoes
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste



1.  Roughly chop the tomatoes and place in a heavy sauce pan with the juice, onion and butter in a heavy 3-4 quart saucepan over medium heat. 
2. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes, of course you'll stir that delicious fat back in. 
3. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with the spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.
4. Serve with spaghetti, with or without grated parmesan cheese to pass.


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