Buttered Spaghetti Sauce

It's hot today.  Really hot.  Almost too hot to even go to the pool.  (Almost.)  Silly me, despite the heat, I'm craving rich pasta for dinner tonight.  Luckily, I have the simplest, tastiest homemade pasta sauce recipe up my sleeve.  Only three ingredients: canned tomatoes, butter and yellow onion.  Easy peasy.

The recipe below makes enough sauce for my family of five, but I'll admit to doubling it occasionally to ensure I have leftover sauce for dipping bread (or to indulge in more spaghetti) the next day.  Without further adieu, the easiest (and darn delicious) red sauce on the planet:

Ingredients

• 28 ounces whole peeled tomatoes from a can (pureed tomatoes, if your family likes a smooth sauce)
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
• Salt to taste

Directions

Place tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer.  Once the temperature is elevated, lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally (crushing tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon when stirring).  After 45 minutes, remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste (slowly....some canned tomatoes are salted in the process) and keep warm while you prepare your choice pound of pasta. 

Buon appetito!

Note: If you're a cheese-lover like myself, you may be surprised to find you don't necessarily need to add cheese on top of your pasta it with this sauce.  But, in the interest of full disclosure, I will admit to still sprinkling some freshly grated parmigiano reggiano anyway.  Like a security blanket.