Marcella Hazan’s classic 4-ingredient tomato sauce is apparently world renowned but I only came across it by chance on Twitter when a pal there mentioned he was going to try making it for the first time. So I did too! And yes, it is simplicity itself, and yes, it’s lovely and rich and so flavourful. The original recipe I found online called for whole tinned tomatoes, but for sauces I prefer using the chopped ones (so I did). And I started off with a teaspoon of salt, which was enough for me, but you can always add more later. It also says to cook the sauce for 45 minutes, but I think an hour gives you a bit more texture. In fact, I fell asleep while it was cooking (low and slow) and the onions ended up falling apart, making them difficult to fish out. I think I got maybe 3/4 of it out, but other friends told me they sometimes just blitz the onion in at the end. Really this is so easy it almost makes itself. Just don’t fall asleep!

Ingredients and instructions below…

• 2 425 gr tins of plain chopped tomatoes
• 75 gr unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 small onion, peeled and cut in half
• coarse sea salt

Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until it starts bubbling. Mix well, turn heat down low and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Remove the onion and there you go!

overcooked onions 👆