Marcella's Miracle Tomato and Butter Sauce

Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan (Knopf, 1992)

Serves 6

This is Marcella Hazan’s iconic — and arguably best — tomato sauce. It’s the sauce that made her famous, because it is a miracle: so much more than the sum of its simple parts. If you use excellent butter, imported Italian plum tomatoes, and the best Parmigiano-Reggiano you can find, it’s so delicious you may find yourself eating it straight from the pan.

I have found that putting the tomatoes through the smallest holes on a food mill elevates the sauce from good to great. I use the Oxo Food Mill, which is easy to assemble, easy to clean, and goes into the dishwasher.

Italians sauce pasta lightly, so — supposedly — this is enough for 1 pound of pasta. If you're making less than that, you can freeze the leftover sauce — just do so without the onion and without any cheese. However, we always just eat it all, even if I’m only making a small amount of pasta. It is good on any shape; I usually use penne, mezzi rigatoni, or rigatoni.

One 400 g can imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up with their juice
5 tablespoons unsalted butter (don’t skimp here)
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half
Salt (added at the end)
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, for serving

Put the tomatoes through the food mill directly into a saucepan. I use a three-quart saucier. Add the butter and the onion halves. Simmer uncovered over very low heat for about 45 minutes, or until the butter separates from the tomatoes.

Stir occasionally. Add salt right before serving; if you add it earlier, you may need less because the sauce reduces as it cooks. Keep in mind that you will add cheese, which is salty, just before serving.

Discard the onion. Toss the sauce with pasta, then add Parmigiano-Reggiano and toss again.