Butter is the Word of the Day

As soon as I read about this amazing tomato sauce, the first thing that went through my mind was a great big resounding DUH. I have been trying for YEARS to find a good basic tomato sauce, one that is good all by its lonesome or spiffed up with mushrooms, sausage, whatever. I’ve tried sauces with a mirepoix base, canned tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, olive oil, white wine, red wine, chicken stock, tomato paste, sugar, HOURS simmering on a stove top – you name it, I’ve tried it.
You know what I never tried? Butter. You know what makes this the best tomato sauce EVER? Butter. DUH, right? This sauce is so simple and so easy and so perfect and so obvious I just want to kick myself for not figuring it out sooner. There are three ingredients for the base: tomatoes, an onion, and butter. That’s it.

Now, if you’re like me and you wanna get fancy, you can add mushrooms that you’ve sautéed in butter until they’re soft and toasty and just rife with opportunity. And then you can add a little splash of marjoram to them – just to dress them up a little. And THEN you can pour in the most basic and delicious tomato sauce you’ll ever make, chop some fresh basil, grate some parmesan, and serve the whole thing over pasta.
I’m just dying to try this sauce with ground sausage, or garlic, or chili flakes, or all three, or... oh the possibilities are endless!

28 ounces whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano, if you can find them)
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste (you might find, as I did, that your tomatoes came salted and that you didn’t need to add more) and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

Dinner for Two

Last week my friend Ian, a soon-to-be rockstar, graced me with his presence in exchange for a home-cooked meal. He wasn’t picky, he swore, but promised I’d win his heart with the classics…so I went with an amazing chicken meatball recipe that I’d already tried out once before to great success and decided I’d make spaghetti to go with it.

Chicken meatballs? I can hear the resounding “ick”s…but let me assure you that these are chicken meatballs of a different color. They’re moist and so flavorful and (mostly) healthy…we’ll get to that “mostly” in a minute. Ok, or now. Like most of the best meat balls you’ve had in your life, these babies pack some pork.

In this case, its chopped pancetta, which, while its sautéing to a crisp with onions and garlic will fill your kitchen with the most deliciously savory smell. In Venice, they use mortadella (the “mort” part of this particular form of pork is most likely in reference to the fact that its about 90% fat and thus is likely to interfere with your own mortality), and at your corner Italian joint its probably plain old ground pork.


To make up for the fact that these meatballs aren’t quite kosher, I used 100% ground breast meat which helps a little to garner back some healthy points. Anyways, they came out fantastically (if in need of a little salt) and I was busy polishing off my plate while Ian was more focused on polishing off a bottle of wine.
Also, I cheated this time and used store-bought sauce (gasp! The horror!) albeit Giorgio Baldi’s Arabiatta…because who can compete with Giorgio’s? But I have a new tomato sauce recipe that will knock your socks off so stay tuned…and make these meatballs in the meantime!

Chicken Meatballs
1 pound ground chicken
3 oz pancetta, chopped OR ground up in a food processor
1 tblspn olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic
3 tblspns chopped parsley
1 egg
1 cup of Italian bread torn up into little bitty pieces
1/3 cup milk
1 tblespn tomato paste
1 tspn salt
1 tspn pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1. Saute pancetta, onions, and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until pancetta is browned and onions are soft and translucent. Cool (this is important because you’re going to be adding it to a mixture with raw egg so if its not pretty cooled down it will cook the egg and get yucky).
2. Meanwhile, soak the bread in the milk.
3. Mix chicken, salt, pepper, parsley, egg, tomato paste and milk-soaked bread in a large bowl.
4. Once the pancetta-onion-garlic mixture is cooled, add to the meat mixture and blend well (don’t be afraid to use your fingers!)
5. Make balls (should get about 12-14 of them depending on size) and place in a large baking dish or casserole dish without crowding.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes (although mine took about 25 minutes because of my oven). Serve on their own, as sliders, appetizers, or (like me) with spaghetti and sauce.