‘The Best Pasta Sauce’ Reinvented

No excuses here – I’ve been lazy. I’ve cooked quite a few tasty items in the last few weeks, but I’ve had no motivation to edit photos and write about them. Mostly, I’ve been a wee bit obsessed with planning our upcoming honeymoon. We have the itinerary almost finalized, and I successfully looked up and priced out seventy different airlines’ flight routes. I then organized them in Excel separately by price and destination and experimented with different itineraries. Yes, I’m that nerdy about it.

Right now, looks like we’re doing the following:

Bangkok -> Hanoi, Vietnam -> Halong Bay, Vietnam -> Siem Reap/Angkor Wat, Cambodia -> Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -> Kota Kinabalu and Malaysian Borneo -> Bali -> Bangkok and Thai islands. Whirlwind, that’s for sure. A month is not really enough time for this itinerary, but we’re going to make it work and make sure we see everything we want to!

Ok, back to food. This tomato sauce has been all over the blogosphere. It is delicious as is, but of course I had to spice it up. Tossed with some pasta (whole wheat, of course), a super fresh mozzarella from the farmer’s market, and fresh spinach – boom, a meal.

The Best Pasta Sauce
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, who adapted it from Marcela Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking

1 large can, 28 ounces whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano is what all the bloggers recommend, but I used a different brand from the store – still tasted great)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter (or, like I used, Earth Balance spread)
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
2 tablespoons cumin (this is the secret ingredient)
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion, cumin, and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Simmer over medium-low heat for 40-50 minutes, slowly breaking down the tomatoes as the heat through. Remove from heat and take out the onion, then add salt to taste.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta al dente. Toss with the pasta sauce, fresh spinach, and fresh mozz.