Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce With Onion & Butter

This recipe is so deceptively simple. I thought the sauce would taste like tomatoes and butter and onion, but the sum of ingredients are transformed into something bigger than its parts. I used one 28 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes, 1 stick of butter (scaled), 1 onion halved and a little salt. I couldn't believe the results. I diced up the onion to add back to the sauce. I think that was too much onion for me and next time I will maybe add half of the onion. Definitely a keeper and what an incredible base to work from!

Amazing, delicious! Help me out though, what recommendations can anyone give about a protein to serve with this for entertaining. I was wondering about serving this over a small portion of freshly made spaghetti, topped with a few fresh king prawns? Or would a fish fillet work? I need to make it into a complete meal to serve as a main.

This recipe is so simple and so perfect, if you can exercise restraint. Do not add any additional ingredients and use high quality butter (Kerigold) and tomatoes (San Marzano whole & peeled).

After following comments on this recipe for some time, I finally decided to try it- I had some frozen tomatoes left from last years crop (Costoluto Geovanese, mostly- not that big a fan of Romas). I used Hazan's recipe (even the tiny amount of sugar); the recipe published here is altered some, which didn't seem like a good idea for something this simple. Also not so accurate; the butter did not separate out; the texture was actually pretty good. A food mill is really much the best way to prepare the tomatoes. I have a lot of respect for Hazan, and had hoped for something greater than the sum of its parts, but this seemed to me exactly like the sum of its parts; it tasted like tomatoes, way too much butter, and a trace of onion; took a lot of salt. If you like buttered noodles it might appeal; I do not, and found it pretty heavy, while quite thin nutritionally. I often make fresh tomato sauces that are no more complicated; a bit of basil, garlic and a touch of olive oil will do nicely with good tomatoes- this seems more like a butter sauce than a tomato sauce; just not my thing.

I left a review a couple of years ago and still stand by it. I love this sauce. Its what I use as a BASE. I can add basil or other seasonings to build what I want for a meal. Love to simmer meatballs in it or italian sausage or just a bit of salt and its always terrific. Like Mark H replied, this makes a great pizza topping and yes it makes a fabulous soup.
I do think that the brand of tomatoes makes a big difference in the finished sauce. If crappy tomatoes are used....well that would be a factor. I use fresh tomatoes in the summer or romas that Ive frozen in the winter. As for canned, I prefer the Sclafani brand crushed tomatoes from new jersey. It is reasonably priced and very flavorful. I've recently started blending the onion in with a stick blender after it is fully cooked. I usually let it simmer in a dutch oven for a good hour or two. I make this sauce at least two or three times a month. Everyone I've made it for loves it and asks for the recipe. Wow. 547 reviews now.!!!

The BBC Radio 4/made the Essential cook book of the year when first published. I bough 4 copies for Christmas presents always go back to the toms and onion sauce, the best, cooking in Spain right now. The book was just out when we bought it.

This is one of the easiest sauces around short of opening a jar, and so much better than any jarred sauce. We use it by itself strictly by the recipe (with the onion on the side so as to not waste it) on spaghetti or other long pasta, we cook meatballs in it for spaghetti and meatballs, and we even use it as a pizza sauce when we fire up the backyard pizza oven. We’ve also used it in a slightly modified form to make tomato soup and that was the best!

I tried this-completely baffled by all the great reviews. Did they actually make it? It was so bland, it actually tasted like nothing more than just a plain can of tomatoes. The onion didn’t really impart any flavor to the sauce. I think this is one of those recipes I call a “myth.”

I already have a good recipe for Marinara and was looking for a recipe for a good tomato sauce when I came across this one and thought that I'd give it a go.
I live in England where,unfortunately, access to good tomatoes is pretty woeful so, tinned tomatoes it was.
I learned quite a while ago that, whilst everyday tinned tomatoes are fine for everyday use, when it comes to sauces, especially pasta sauces, there really is no substitute for San Marzano ( and even that is variable. Find a brand you like and stick with it - I am using Coppola at the moment.)
When cooking a new dish for the first time, I always stick to the recipe exactly.
How people can add lots of extra flavours to a dish and then review the original recipe is beyond me. Don't get me wrong here, my cookbooks/scrapbooks are covered in hand written notes about things to put in/take out along with altered cooking times and temperatures.
So, my thoughts on this recipe as is -
I thought that it was absolutely delicious !
I served it with a decent dried Bucatini pasta cooked 2 minutes under and finished off in the sauce with a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water.
I tried it with both grated Parmesan Reggiano and Pecorino Romano and ,surprisingly, the Pecorino gave a noticeably better result.
I had half of the sauce and the 2 onion halves left so, for lunch the next day, I blitzed 1 half of the onion , added it back to the sauce and served it with Linguini .
Still a tasty sauce but, the onion had taken away some of the bright, tomato taste that the original recipe was all about. Essentially, it had turned it into a different sauce.
I can see where some people are comparing this to tomato soup are coming from and, indeed, I will be trying this sauce with the addition of some stock and fresh basil and I have high hopes of producing an equally good tomato soup. ( Paired with a nice grilled cheese sandwich of course ! ( thank you America for that pairing !)Tip :- try and find some Raclette cheese and wild garlic leaves for the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich.)
I will definitely be making this sauce again, without any changes.
Regards from across the pond,
Andy.

Like most of us, everyone seems to add a bit of “something else” here and there. Now, it no longer is Marcella’s tomato sauce, it’s ours.

The ultimate pasta sauce! The only additions for me, marjoram and roasted fennel seeds. Perfection!

This was fabulous. So far I’ve put it on pork carnitas, eaten as a soup with a dash of my “special” olive oil and tomorrow will serve on pasta as it was originally mean to be. I could eat this all day long and it was a great way to use my abundant tomato supply. I imagine this will be great with canned tomatoes as well. PS - I kept the onions in because once tasting it, I decided they really added great sweetness and texture although I think they could also be pureed too.

I used grass-fed, cultured butter, which makes a nice difference. After tasting, I had to add fresh-ground pepper and some sweetness. I used Keys Beez honey, which I love, but brown sugar would have been fine. I think tomato sauce needs sugar, always. Sorry! I couldn't bear to throw away the onions, so I served them on the side. I put this sauce over gorgonzola-stuffed gnocchi, which cries out for a simple, buttery tomato sauce. Mind blowing.

As someone whose sauce has around 15 ingredients, give or take, it astounds me that this is so popular. Cook the onion without sautéing and then remove it? Unconscionable.

This sauce as soup. Another site (sorry, forget where) recommends using this sauce to make tomato soup. I tried it and it's great!...plain or with some added liquid (broth, milk or cream). Genius (yes, true) pantry save.

My friend told me about this recipe ( he loves it). I however didn’t care for it all that much. It’s good, but I prefer a marinara that is light and fresh tasting. The butter, and it’s a lot, just weighs this down and blankets any freshness; which is further compounded by the fact that there is no Basil in the recipe. If I’m going to use this much butter and have the added calories I’d rather do it making Alfredo. To each their own .

Would this recipe work well as a dipping sauce, such as a marinara sauce in which to dip focaccia bread; or would I need to modify it slightly to get the texture right?

Fantastic!! So simple, yet SO flavorful!

I am a total rookie cook, I ain't useless, but I sure can't make any complicated stuff.
I just tried this recipe and it was gooooood!
I may used another tomato and a bit less liquid (the recipe is not clear to how much liquid to use, when using fresh tomatos) But all in all, I really enjoyed it.

My go-to quickie tomato-based sauce, except I use Miyoko’s vegan butter, and I purée the onions at the end and add them back into the sauce. Yum!