Potato Soup
Naz Deravian
1367 ratings with an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars
1,367
1 hour 30 minutes
Updated Aug. 5, 2024
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Combine the tomatoes, their juices, the butter and the onion halves in a saucepan. Add a pinch or two of salt.
Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, mashing any large pieces of tomato with a spoon. Add salt as needed.
Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta. This recipe makes enough sauce for a pound of pasta.
Such endless tinkering! My daughter turned me on to this. She said that its simplicity allows the primary ingredients--the tomatoes and the pasta--to shine. The onion is a whisper, not a shout (or, God forbid, a partner with garlic in a mugging). The butter, astonishingly, adds an unctuousness, a luxurious velvety taste and feel that perfectly complement the tomatoes.
If anyone else had told me this, I would have reached for my herb garden, the olive oil. But I trust her, and she was right.
I don't know why you would want to discard the onion. Eating it is one of the highlights of this dish!
The recipe from the first edition of The Classic Italian Cookbook (1973) calls for 2 lbs of tomatoes, 1/4 lb butter, one medium yellow onion, peeled and halved, salt and 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar. I can't imagine why the amount of butter has been reduced from 8 tablespoons to 5 tablespoons. Stick with the original.
Leave the ends of the onion intact and halve it end to end instead of at the equator and the onion will stay together.
Made this tonight--very good; so simple. As others said, on my own, I would have reached for basil, garlic, etc; is not necessary here.
The one thing I would add is don't forgot everything you know about pasta. So salt the spaghetti water properly, and then combine spaghetti w/ sauce in a saute pan by heating sauce in pan, adding a ladle of spaghetti water (to help it adhere), letting it come to simmer, and finishing the spaghetti in the sauce (for the last two minutes of cook time)
Sounds good, but I'm not discarding the onion. That's the best part. I'll eat that all by itself if I have to, or puree it into its own sauce with a little roasted garlic to spread on some good bread.
Folks, recipes are just a guide. As I read the comments I really chuckle at how scared people are to adjust things to their preferences. If you like garlic, add some. A little more butter, why not. I have been making this over the past few weeks with fresh tomatoes from my garden, why not ? I cannot keep up with them otherwise. I have fine tuned it to my liking, half an onion sliced, clove of garlic, hint of fresh basil and oregano, and reduce over several hours at very low heat. YUM.
i didn't have enough butter so added some duck fat. God help us all... BUT it was DELICIOUS.
Just want to put it out there that the "Bianco Dinapoli" brand canned tomatoes from California are better than nearly every brand of canned tomatoes I have tried, from muir glen to various DOP san marzano brands. Best of all they are less than $4/can at whole foods. They work for pizza sauce, tomatoe sauce, and soup, all wonderfully.
This recipe calls for 2 CUPS of tomatoes, not 2 pounds. Maybe that's why there's less butter.
This recipe isn't a life-changer but it's so easy and I always have the ingredients on hand. I add a healthy pinch of crushed red pepper. I think it's a little scant for a whole pound of pasta - I use one recipe's worth of sauce on half a pound of pasta. Add meatballs and it's dinner for three adults.
If you don't have San Marzano tomatoes, Cooks Illustrated says Hunts is the next best thing.
I happened to be out of onions so I used four large shallots, some of which sort of melted into the sauce. I liked it even better.
I am 68 years old. Been adding sweet butter to my gravy since I was old enough to cook. Southern Italians always did this. Many also use red bell peppers as a sweetener in addition to the butter. Never use sugar or salt and never had a complaint. Of course, I simmer for 5 to 8 hours depending on what gravy I am making. By the way, butter is one step away from heavy cream. If you whip cream enough, it will turn into butter. Parmesan is bland. Romano has taste!
It's two cups of tomatoes, plus the juice/liquid. If you stran off the liquid from a 28 oz can of San Marzano tomatoes, then chop the tomatoes, you will end up with roughly 2 cups tomatoes and one cup juice/liquid from the can.
Identical to this recipe and also listed on NYTimes Cooking is Mark Bittmanʻs Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions. I made a triple recipe the other night so I could have extra for another meal. It was fabulous, and, interestingly, the smell reminded me of Pepeʻs in New Haven where four generations of my family have enjoyed pizza!
I've made this many times over the years, but today I made a huge leap of faith to make this for a vegan friend using olive oil instead of butter. It was fabulous. Our local farm stand had gorgeous plum tomatoes, so I blanched them in boiling water, then gave them a little ice bath to remove the skins. I'll definitely make this again.
I used 4 cups of fresh tomatoes instead of 2. After letting it simmer and thicken, it was just enough for the two of us! Anyone else have this happen to you?
Amazing! So easy and remarkably delicious. We used ghee instead of butter (casein/whey issue) and Delallo GF Brown Rice spaghetti sauce. It's been ages since I have had such a yummy spaghetti with sauce. We did lamb curry sausage on the side which went remarkably well.
I made this recipe exactly as printed with my home-grown tomatoes (blanched and peeled as is proper) and was disappointed with the result. I thought perhaps this was an opportunity to showcase the splendor of summer tomatoes but was left wanting. It is more of a soup flavor than a sauce flavor and I will not be making this again. I wish I had trusted my gut on the lack of seasoning and used my perfect tomatoes in a different recipe.
Easy to burn — use smallest burner
Double or triple. Sub onion salt. Can use less butter. Instant pot for 12 min. Natural release. Switch to sautée uncovered until thickened and dark red. Use the splatter guard.
I agree with those who suggest that this recipe does not make enough to use with a full pound of pasta. Also, I made the mistake of using this sauce with whole wheat spaghetti. All I tasted was the (unpleasant) wheaty spaghetti and unmistakable butter -- little tomato and no onion flavors.
Added parm rind, roasted some tomatoes in the oven and removed skins, grated tomatoes and removed skins
This recipe is so simple, so easy, and yet it is absolutely wonderful. They key, I think, is in using the best possible ingredients. It's velvety, (from the butter?) rich, has that lovely tang that good tomatoes provide, and we had no leftovers! Like many of you, I usually add garlic, olive oil and other seasonings to my sauce. I decided to try the recipe exactly and Ms. Hazan did NOT disappoint.
I had low expectations for this recipe (no garlic? no herbs? no cheese?!) but I had to make it just to see what all the fuss is about. Wow, it's delicious! I sprang for the San Marzanos, which I've never used before, and they are so bright and acidic! I certainly did not discard the onion, but reserved it for another use. And butter is never a bad idea. No resemblance to canned kids pasta. I'll be making this over and over again!
I use crushed tomatoes. Will never buy a jar of marinara again.
This is really a bad recipe with absurd amount of butter that males it bland and unhealthy.
I made this sauce a few weeks ago after reading all the rave reviews in the NYT. My wife and I both loved its taste and simplicity in preparing. I decided to make it again yesterday and the only change I made was using an immersion blender at the end instead of crushing the tomatoes with the back of a slotted spoon. Big mistake. It totally changed the color from tomato red to a pinkiish color and even the taste drastically changed to more of a tmato bisque soup taste. Stick to the recipe.
Wonderful
This is an excellent basic sauce. However I found there was not enough salt (easily fixed...). Maybe Swiss tomatoes aren't as salty as American ones - who knows! I will definitely make it again. (This time I had a glut of cherry tomatoes and they work well in it...)
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