Processing Produce, Part One: From a Recipe

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking is very easy and, as Marcella Hazan writes in the recipe's headnotes, tastes good "directly out of the pot with a spoon." I haven't tried it on pasta yet, but I'm expecting it to be good for dinner tomorrow.

My favorite thing about making this sauce was that it made me get out my food mill which surprised me once again by its ease of use. I don't know why I always expect it to be so high maintenance when each time I use it (maybe three times total at this point) my only difficulty is figuring out how to put it together, which would cease to be a difficulty if I used it more often so I'd remember from time to time.

But don't let my digression on food mills discourage you if you want to make this. If my reason for trying the recipe weren't to use up fresh plum tomatoes, I'd have taken the even easier route: Marcella approves of canned tomatoes. Or fresh tomatoes can be peeled and chopped for "a meatier, more rustic consistency" instead of milled for "a silkier, smoother sauce."

The tomatoes are halved and cooked briefly before being put through the food mill, then simmered with onion, butter, and salt. And that's it! You don't even need to chop the onion, just peel and halve it, then fish it out again at the end.