A basic tomato sauce recipe.

Ingredients

• 4 Tbs butter
• 1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion
• 1 small carrot, finely diced
• 1 small stalk of celery, finely diced
• 2 cups canned, whole, peeled tomatoes, with their juice, coarsely chopped
• salt
• 1/3 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook until it has turned a golden color.
2. Add the carrots and celery, and continue cooking until they are lightly colored.
3. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and cook until they have reduced and separated from the butter (about 20-30 minutes).
4. Remove from heat.
5. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot, add 1 Tbs of salt, and drop in the pasta all at once, stirring until the pasta is submerged. If you have a smaller pot, you can use less than 4 quarts of water, but you must constantly stir the pasta for one minute.
6. When the pasta is almost done, return the sauce to a medium heat.
7. Once the pasta is cooked al dente, drain it and toss it with the sauce, adding the grated cheese.
8. Serve at once.

Note: This sauce is also good with penne or fusilli.
Make a large amount of this sauce and freeze in batches of 2.5 cups. You can then pull it out to use as the base for other pasta sauces.

Paula Laurita
Italian Food Host

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