Sounds great. Would you share your tomato sauce recipe?
Hey Don
I can't remember which website I found this on, I think it might have been Yahoo foods. It is so simple and easy to adapt to your own taste. First time I made it people thought I added a bunch of cheese - nope. Served it at an event, had several people, including some of my Italiano friends, ask me for the recipe.
Something about how the butter renders with the tomato. Very fresh. For this smoke I added some whole cloves of garlic, basil, parsley and thyme.
The recipe even is tailored perfectly to a 28- ounce can of good-quality tomatoes -- or, for a change of pace, use the ripe, plump, shiny tomatoes that you can find this season. Whatever you choose, just add an onion, swirl in some butter, and simmer away.
Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter
Serves 6, enough to sauce 1 to 1 1/2 pounds pasta
2 pounds fresh, ripe tomatoes, prepared as described below, or 2 cups canned imported Italian tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
5 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half Salt to taste
1. If using fresh tomatoes: Plunge the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute or less. Drain them and, as soon as they are cool enough to handle, skin them, and cut
them into coarse pieces. OR: Freeze tomatoes on a baking sheet until hard. Thaw again, either on the counter or under running water. Skin them and cut them into coarse pieces.
2. Put either the prepared fresh tomatoes or the canned in a saucepan, add the butter, onion, and salt, and cook uncovered at a very slow, but steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until it is thickened to your liking and the fat floats free from the tomato.
3. Stir from time to time, mashing up any large pieces of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon.
4. Taste and correct for salt. Discard the onion before tossing with pasta. Serve with freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese for the table.
enjoy
