Roasted Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onion

Posted On January 8, 2020

You’re probably starting to notice that I gravitate toward food that sounds fancy but is actually basic and easy (just like me!).

Weeknight cooking is not my favorite. And, of course, because I AM WHO I AM, I also do not enjoy most leftovers. Reheated food is right up there with Satan’s condiment mayonnaise on my personal food blacklist. I only order delivery in extreme circumstances because I feel like I am just paying three times as much for someone to bring me food that looks and tastes like leftovers.

But then I took a look at my spending for the last two months, during which I have been equal parts seasonally depressed, drunk at holiday parties, and too full of coffee toffee to bother cooking anything beyond eggs and those weird bags of frozen green beans that create a self-contained tiny cookin’ sauna in the microwave. My takeout spending was embarrassing. And I was buying groceries with good intentions all the while, squandering perfectly good produce because I couldn’t bear the thought of spending 30 minutes making myself something fresh and delicious.

It was a dark time.

So I’m breaking up with Grubhub and all other forms of takeout for January to get back into a good cooking routine. I love meal planning and traditionally Sundays are reserved exclusively for kitchen projects; actually, if I’m being honest, they’re Stoner Sundays, where I get high and fuck around in the kitchen all afternoon while listening to music. (HEY Y’ALL IT’S LEGAL IN ILLINOIS, SO NOW I CAN BE MY MOST AUTHENTIC CANNABIS ENTHUSIAST SELF!)

Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce with butter and onions is an absolute staple for me, and I actually love it as a leftover! It’s so simple, tastes incredible, and can be used for way more than just dressing pasta. I’ve used it as part of a bruschetta bar (what, you don’t do that?), sauce for meatballs, and pizza sauce when feeding people who lack my revulsion of tomato sauce.

Speaking of, you’re probably like, “WTF hypocrite! I thought you hated red sauce?!” And technically, I do, but I have found that it’s oregano and an abundance of sugar that makes more commonly used tomato-based sauces wildly offensive to my palate.

I am an enigma wrapped in a riddle. And I am going to go make this and put a giant heap of burrata on top of each plate.

Roasted Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onion
Prep time: 5 minutes | Cook time: 45 minutes

15 ounce can of fire-roasted tomatoes
15 ounce can of whole or diced tomatoes (don’t use crushed!)
1 onion, quartered
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a dutch oven over medium. Add all ingredients, stirring occasionally to combine as the butter melts. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes.

If you’d like, remove the spent onions (it’s a texture thing, but I keep them in) and smash up the larger chunks of tomatoes if you used whole. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes enough for a pound of cooked pasta. Keep that starchy pasta water! Add the drained pasta straight to the pot of sauce, adding a glug of pasta water and stirring until it gets super saucy and glossy.

Do not sleep on adding a creamy, dreamy mound of burrata to each plate of pasta for serving.