My dad is a MAJOR foodie. Throughout the years, and the thousands of meals my mom and I have made for him, I don’t think he’s ever come across one he didn’t like. So, it was especially surprising when we presented him with this super simple tomato sauce over homemade pasta recipe, and he practically gasped on his first bite. Watching him dive into this pasta, and immediately request we make it the next night, was a spiritual experience – to say the least.

Since this past week he officially celebrated his 60th birthday – which is CRAZY in and of itself – what better recipe to bring to the Moments table than his clear winner? We’ve mentioned it before on the blog (see here!), but that time around we were lucky enough to use our own jarred tomatoes…which isn’t much different from Southern farm-fresh tomatoes, when I think about it.

Anyways! The recipe is fabulous and insanely easy, which almost makes it criminally perfect. How can a recipe with such few ingredients do so much?? In our eyes, that’s what makes every great, simple recipe such a standout. Letting the real ingredients do the talking!

This specific tomato pasta features – like I said – farm fresh tomatoes, and the real star of the show, Vidalia onions. In the words of my dad, “I’m not sure if it was the tomato or the Vidalia onions, but that dish was so fresh and simple. It was a perfect mesh of ingredients.” And there you have it, folks! A pasta sauce recipe worth all the marbles!

Simple Spaghetti with Tomato, Onion, and Butter Sauce

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Mains

Servings 4

Ingredients

2 pounds fresh, ripe plum tomatoes, cut up
8 tablespoons butter
2 medium onion, peeled and cut in half (we slice them because we prefer to keep them in the sauce)
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

Put prepared fresh tomatoes in a large saucepan, add the butter, onion, and salt. Cook uncovered at a very slow, but steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until thickened to your liking, and the fat floats free from the tomatoes.
Stir from time to time, mashing up any large pieces of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon.
Taste and correct for salt. Before tossing with salt, you may remove the onion (we leave it in). Serve with freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano.

Making Fresh Tomatoes Ready for Sauce

Plunge fresh, ripe plum tomatoes in boiling water for a minute or less. Drain them, and as soon as they are cool enough to handle, skin them, and cut them into course pieces.