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[paxamicus AT earthlink.net]

*g* I have no doubt anyone coming away from your table is as well fed  
and sated with pleasure as it is possible to be. I do most of what you  
mention below but I think maybe our main difference, if I am  
remembering correctly, is that you are doing a Chicago-style, right?  
So lavish is the word. I tend to do the spare Neopolitan style unless  
I have really, really, really good sausage.

I am now going to impart to you THE BEST TOMATO SAUCE EVER. Listen up,  
now, 'cause this is a biggie.

Cut an onion in half (it's best if you can leave the root intact) and  
put an entire half into a pot with a few tablespoons of butter. Dump  
in a pound-ish of tomatoes. The better the tomatoes the better the  
sauce. As chunky or smooth as you like. I like to skin 'em first.   
Simmer very gently for half an hour or so.
Remove onion and salt to taste. If you used salted butter you might  
find you can skip this.  If your tomatoes were acidic, you can  
sprinkle the teeniest amount of sugar, but go very, very sparingly.  
That's it. The more you let it simmer the thicker it gets.

I know, it sounds so basic as to be boring. And I know you are  
thinking, "What is that woman thinking, there is no garlic in there.  
WHY take the onion out, I love onion? Who makes sauce without basil?  
No oregano? No bay leaf? No hours of simmering?"

This is Marcella Hazan's onion butter sauce. It is THE BEST. With  
fresh tomatoes right out of the garden, it is eden for your mouth.

I mash the cooked onion into cheese or beans or potatoes.

Uuuuumummmmmm summer tomato sauce...

We need to have a pizza cook-in/ brew testing party.





On Mar 31, 2008, at 10:20 AM, Gene GeRue wrote:

> On Mar 31, 2008, at 6:43 AM, paxamicus AT earthlink.net wrote:
>
> > Holy Smokes! $40 per PIZZA? What're you serving on it, caviar? May I
> > come to dinner?
>
> I don't care for caviar. Biodynamically-grown wheat, fresh ground.
> Hand-made sauce from home-grown tomatoes and basil, oregano, rosemary,
> thyme. (In Phoenix I buy organic tomato sauce but I do raise the
> herbs.) Best quality mozzarella I can find. Then, lavish toppings,
> again the best quality I can grow or buy or find (morels). Whether one
> grows, makes, or buys top-quality ingredients, the cost is high. And
> worth every bit of it. Or at least that is the impression I have
> gained from those who have eaten at my table.