This is the pasta we make when it’s 7pm and nobody has any good ideas. It’s basically Marcella Hazan’s tomato-butter sauce with one shortcut.
Ingredients
- 1 can (28oz) whole peeled tomatoes
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and halved
- Salt
- 1 lb pasta (we use rigatoni)
- Parmigiano to finish
Method
- Dump the tomatoes, butter, and halved onion into a saucepan with a big pinch of salt. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes — or as long as it takes your pasta water to come to a boil and the pasta to cook.
- Crush the tomatoes against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon as they soften. Fish out the onion at the end (or leave it in; nobody will care).
- Toss with cooked pasta and a ladle of pasta water. Top with parm.
The shortcut: if you’re in a hurry, 20 minutes is enough. It’s a better sauce at 40 but still great at 20.