Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

Um... yum!!! Did you read the title and think "OH BABY!" Because I did when I first read it. I loooove me some buttah... so good.

Now if your health conscious like I am, anything that has the word "butter" in the title instantly sends up a WARNING signing. I will promise you though that the amount of butter per serving is small, the taste is huge, and it's all so very very worth it. There is no excuse to use jarred sauce- this recipe only has four (4!!) ingredients. Best of all it is so low maintenance that you can make it while you do other things around the kitchen.

I would describe this sauce as velvetty... it's smooth, slightly thick, and rich tasting. The onion and butter combine and make the most flavorful sauce. Best of all there are no onion chunks floating around, so if you have a picky eater (like my husband who hates onion chunks) this will be a winner. The original recipe calls for whole tomatoes but I used puree, you can easily use chopped, crushed, whole, or puree. It's up to you!

Source: Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano, if you can find them) (crushed or puree will work too)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. 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. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste (you might find, as I did, that your tomatoes came salted and that you didn’t need to add more) and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.