My go-to, no need to shop, last minute, knock your socks off meal is pasta with tomato sauce from Marcella Hazan.  This is the tomato sauce that my dad has always made.  For me, it is the most comforting of all comfort foods, and it is also an insane crowd pleaser.

This is the simplest of all tomato sauces. There is no chopping, it only calls for an onion which is cut in two and cooked with a can of tomatoes (the onion should look like two floating boobs).  Except for salt, and a tiny amount of sugar, the sauce has no seasonings.  It has no olive oil, only butter.  It is an unsurpassed sauce with spaghetti, penne, and ziti.  Since this is Marcella’s recipe, I actually have the specific amounts of ingredients.

 1 28oz can of whole peeled Italian tomatoes

¼ pound unsalted butter (don’t start with me, you only live once)

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and halved

¼ teaspoon granulated sugar

Salt

(optional hot pepper flakes)

Cook the tomatoes in a covered stockpot or saucepan until they have simmered for 10 minutes.  Add the butter, onion, ½ teaspoons salt, and sugar, and cook at a slow but steady simmer, uncovered for 45 minutes.  Taste and correct for salt.  Discard onion.

If you don’t mind the extra step, you can put the can of tomatoes in the blender until pureed before cooking.

Before serving, I like to mix the sauce with the pasta and some freshly grated parmesan.