This is a slow-cooker adaptation of Marcella Hazan’s famous 3-ingredient marinara sauce. The butter makes the sauce plush. Good-quality canned tomatoes are a useful pantry staple year-round but especially in winter when fresh tomatoes seem a lifetime away.
— Sarah DiGregorio
• ON-DEMAND: Listen to our conversation with Sarah about her tomato sauce recipe, as well as other slow-cooking recipes from her new book. •
From Adventures in Slow Cooking by Sarah DiGregorio. Copyright © 2017 by Sarah DiGregorio. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Photo Copyright © 2017 Andrew Purcell
- Two 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into pieces
- 2 medium yellow or red onions halved
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt plus more to taste
- Combine all the ingredients in a 5- to 8-quart slow cooker, breaking up and crushing the tomatoes with your hands. Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 hour.
- Uncover the slow cooker, stir well, reduce the heat to LOW, and then set the lid ajar by about 1 inch to allow the sauce to reduce. Cook until thick and delicious, about 5 hours, stirring occasionally if you can.
- Remove and discard the onions. Taste and add more salt if desired. Cool the sauce, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Holds well on warm through step 1 for up to 3 hours
Prep time: 5 minutes
Finish time: 5 minutes
Slow-cook time: 6 hours
Equipment: 4- to 7-quart slow cooker
Delicious on manicotti.
Definitely!
Why are there pictures of chick peas?
The tomato sauce is the container on the lower left. The idea is that you make enough to freeze. . .like the other make-ahead elements in containers also headed into the freezer.