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OT - Marcella Hazan's Spaghetti Sauce

Botch
Botch Posts: 15,463
edited December 2016 in Off Topic
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015178-marcella-hazans-tomato-sauce
 
Saw this recipe on the NY Times website, and kept meaning to try it, even though it leaves out a lot of what I usually put into tomato gravy.  It just has a 28-oz can of Marzano tomatoes, an onion sliced in half (removed after simmering), 5 Tablespoons of butter (!!!), and salt.  
Dang it is delicious!! I may be bringing back my herbs, spices, and garlic to the recipe, but I'm definitely sticking with the butter from now on.  Great dish for days like today, we're having a ThunderSnow storm (which I've only seen in utard).  
_____________

Remember when teachers used to say 'You won't have a calculator everywhere you go'?  Well, we showed them.


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Comments

  • Judy Mayberry
    Judy Mayberry Posts: 2,015
    edited December 2016
    +1! This is one of the biggest surprises in cooking. Absolutely delicious.You have to be a certain age to even remember who Marcella Hazan was, and I have her cookbook.
    Judy in San Diego
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  • DoubleEgger
    DoubleEgger Posts: 17,168
    Me and butter have a long term love affair. I'll be giving this a whirl. Thanks for sharing. 
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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Atsa lotta butter! But no garlic?! That can't be right. Still, if Judy says it's good, I'll try it. =)

    My go to is from Lidia Bastianich. A marinara recipe that is just oil, garlic, tomatoes, salt, red pepper flakes and basil. Just as good as a pizza sauce as it is on pasta or meatballs.

    http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/03/lidias-marinara-sauce.html

    Maybe I'll replace Lidia's oil with buttah! =)

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,463
    edited December 2016
    Carolina Q said:
    Atsa lotta butter! But no garlic?! That can't be right. Still, if Judy says it's good, I'll try it. =) 
    I was suspicious, too, of taking the onion OUT of the sauce (I normally dice a whole yellow onion, and leave it all in, for each 28 oz of tomatoes), and the garlic brings even more of a punch (I normally use 3-4 cloves, depending on their size).  I guess the point here is to feature the taste of the tomatoes (and I'm anxious to try this next summer with farmer's market plum tomatoes, even though I usually don't cook/eat spaghetti in the summer).  
    _____________

    Remember when teachers used to say 'You won't have a calculator everywhere you go'?  Well, we showed them.


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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Only 3-4 cloves of garlic? Per 35 oz can of tomatoes, Lidia calls for EIGHT!! =)

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414
    I saw/heard Thundersnow for the first time last winter. That was some surreal stuff.
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  • blasting
    blasting Posts: 6,262


    Interesting @Botch .  I got her book a few months back, because it was one of the highest rated Italian books out there.  I couldn't make it more than 5 pages in - the condescending tone made it unreadable.

    But there must be a reason so many people love her - the food must be good.  On your advice, I'm gonna make my gravy this way next time.  Thanks for the review.


    Phoenix 
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  • Judy Mayberry
    Judy Mayberry Posts: 2,015
    Don't throw the cooked onion away...it's delicious! I just gobble it whole, but you could dice it up into the sauce.

    I made Lidia's sauce recipe recommended by @Carolina Q, but to me Marcella Hazan's is far better. I just use good canned tomatoes, different brands, so it's gotta be the butter.
    Judy in San Diego
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  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,463
    edited December 2016
    Judy Mayberry said:
    Don't throw the cooked onion away...it's delicious! I just gobble it whole, but you could dice it up into the sauce.
    I did save my onion halves yesterday, wasn't sure what I'd do with them.  Several of the outer rings came off during simmering, and a lot of sauce stuck to them.
    This morning, I was preparing to make a cheese omelette for breakfast and I saw those onions in the fridge.  :lightbulb:  I minced the onions, stirred in some italian herbs, and put the resulting chutney into the omelette (and switched from cheddar to parmesan cheese).  Was tasty, but I should've heated up the chutney first; near-refrigerator-cold it cooled off the omelette too much.  I could see using this on some sammiches, too!  
    _____________

    Remember when teachers used to say 'You won't have a calculator everywhere you go'?  Well, we showed them.


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  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,463

    blasting said:


    Interesting @Botch .  I got her book a few months back, because it was one of the highest rated Italian books out there.  I couldn't make it more than 5 pages in - the condescending tone made it unreadable.
    At the risk of sounding racist, I've noticed just about every Italian cookbook I own (at least a dozen) are written in that same condescending tone.  Odd, she's had a PBS program on before and she doesn't come across that way at all.  Dunno.  
    _____________

    Remember when teachers used to say 'You won't have a calculator everywhere you go'?  Well, we showed them.


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  • Hans61
    Hans61 Posts: 3,901
    Never made my own spaghetti sauce -just stared this year making my own Bbq sauces and salad dressings may have to give this a try
    “There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body.”
    Coach Finstock Teen Wolf
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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Judy Mayberry said:
    I made Lidia's sauce recipe recommended by @Carolina Q, but to me Marcella Hazan's is far better. I just use good canned tomatoes, different brands, so it's gotta be the butter.
    Tonight, I tried a combination of Lidia's and Marcella's sauces. Basically, Lidia's recipe, but with butter instead of olive oil. I did add Marcella's onion though. 

    Hands down, @Botch and @Judy Mayberry notwithstanding... for me, Lidia's recipe is better. =) Evoo instead of butter, onion not required (though it didn't hurt anything).

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    I get so confused by the Italian/American-Italian/Canadian-Italian terms for Marinara/Gravy/Pommodori. About ten years ago on a cooking show or the Sopranos I first heard the term "gravy" for pommodori. Fascinated, I started to make it. Then I read a recipe for a take on the sauce that San Francesco's( the originators of the Toronto veal sandwich) used that had lard in it. I've since been adding an unsmoked pork hock to all of my red sauce and I get total raves about them. I pull all the grease off them at the end but something is left at the end that is indescribably good. I get the idea about the butter. 

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,463
    I'm slowly going thru my new copy of Anthony Bourdain's new cookbook Appetites, and tonight came upon his favorite tomato sauce recipe.  It essentially mirrors my own, and he uses a full stick of butter (8 Tblspns vs. 5) but he adds a few fresh plum tomatoes to the 28 oz of canned, so the ratio is essentially the same.  
    My own recipe, tweaked for years and "finalized" (for me) about 10 years ago, includes 1/2 tsp ground fennel, which neither Bourdain nor Hazan includes.  
    I'll be doing another batch next weekend, with more butter, and see what happens.  
    _____________

    Remember when teachers used to say 'You won't have a calculator everywhere you go'?  Well, we showed them.


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  • Judy Mayberry
    Judy Mayberry Posts: 2,015
    Well, @Botch, we're waiting for YOUR recipe!
    Judy in San Diego
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,736
    ok, 5 more tbls of butter in the sauce to go with the whole stick i put into the pound of pasta =) i can do this. i have 8 quarts sm tomatoes canned from this years garden, this is going to kill me B)
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • Judy Mayberry
    Judy Mayberry Posts: 2,015
    edited December 2016
    @Botch: I was just in Costco and took a look at Bourdain's Appetites. For his Tomato Sauce, he only uses 2 tablespoons of butter, not a whole 8-Tbsp. stick. It's the recipe with the 10 plum tomatoes and the 28-oz. can of whole tomatoes, so that must be the one you mentioned. Whoo...that's a relief.
    Judy in San Diego
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  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,463
    @Judy Mayberry
    You're correct, I read "1/4 stick" as "1/4 lb", d'Oh!!  
    _____________

    Remember when teachers used to say 'You won't have a calculator everywhere you go'?  Well, we showed them.


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  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,731
    Botch said:
    I'm slowly going thru my new copy of Anthony Bourdain's new cookbook Appetites, and tonight came upon his favorite tomato sauce recipe.  It essentially mirrors my own, and he uses a full stick of butter (8 Tblspns vs. 5) but he adds a few fresh plum tomatoes to the 28 oz of canned, so the ratio is essentially the same.  
    My own recipe, tweaked for years and "finalized" (for me) about 10 years ago, includes 1/2 tsp ground fennel, which neither Bourdain nor Hazan includes.  
    I'll be doing another batch next weekend, with more butter, and see what happens.  
    Someone here ( can't remember who) posted their recipe which has star anise in it. I tried it and have made sure to include one star anise (or more depending on the quantity of sauce) when i make red sauce now. It adds wonderful flavor. 

    Maybe it was @paqman ?

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
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  • paqman
    paqman Posts: 4,669
    caliking said:
    Botch said:
    I'm slowly going thru my new copy of Anthony Bourdain's new cookbook Appetites, and tonight came upon his favorite tomato sauce recipe.  It essentially mirrors my own, and he uses a full stick of butter (8 Tblspns vs. 5) but he adds a few fresh plum tomatoes to the 28 oz of canned, so the ratio is essentially the same.  
    My own recipe, tweaked for years and "finalized" (for me) about 10 years ago, includes 1/2 tsp ground fennel, which neither Bourdain nor Hazan includes.  
    I'll be doing another batch next weekend, with more butter, and see what happens.  
    Someone here ( can't remember who) posted their recipe which has star anise in it. I tried it and have made sure to include one star anise (or more depending on the quantity of sauce) when i make red sauce now. It adds wonderful flavor. 

    Maybe it was @paqman ?
    @caliking I add star anise to my "pizza" sauce so it could have been me.  I call it pizza sauce but we also use it in lasagnas and on pasta.  I posted it here last summer but I can't find it.

    ____________________
    Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. •Niccolo Machiavelli
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  • Judy Mayberry
    Judy Mayberry Posts: 2,015
    @ pacman: It was easy to find:

    http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1186265/ot-homemade-pizza-sauce-with-san-marzano-tomatoes-from-my-garden
    Judy in San Diego
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  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,731
    paqman said:
    @caliking I add star anise to my "pizza" sauce so it could have been me.  I call it pizza sauce but we also use it in lasagnas and on pasta.  I posted it here last summer but I can't find it.
    I must have goofed and missed that it was pizza sauce. I've been adding star anise to my pasta sauce since then and it really takes it up a notch IMO, so I have to thank you for that tip :)

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
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