Fettuccini in Buttery Tomato Sauce & Tuscan Onions

At first I was attracted to the short ingredients list of this recipe. To some extent it is also manicure friendly –  just get someone in the house to open the cans of tomatoes for you. It’s no surprise with the amount of butter in the sauce, you are guaranteed with creamy and decadent sauce even though it is just 3-ingredients sauce! I have to say this is simplicity at its best!

Fettuccini in Buttery Tomato Sauce & Tuscan Onions

(adapted from 4 Ingredients – One Pot One Bowl by Kim McCosker )

The things you should know:-

The original recipe is called a Tuscan Love Story.

I halved the original recipe of 8 servings to 4 servings which is good for 2 to 3 people. The quantity below is for 4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 250g / 8 oz fettuccini
• 2 x 410g cans whole tomatoes (I used crushed tomatoes instead)
• 125g /4 oz butter, softened (which I didn’t do!)
• 2 onions, quartered  (I used about 1 large + 1 small Tuscan onions and dice fairly large chunks – see photos below)

PLUS 2 hours of simmering time!

 {To go with the simple and decadent sauce, I decided to splurge on Bellata Gold Spinach Fettucine}

In order for one pot to solve it all…

1. Cook the pasta first according to the packet instructions until al dente. 2. Remove, drain and set aside in a large serving bowl. 3. Rinse the same pot and return it back to the stove. 4. Add tomatoes, butter and onions and bring to a gentle boil over medium flame. 5. Reduce the heat (to the minimum) and  simmer for 2 hours. (I would also stir the sauce every now and then especially towards the last hour of cooking to ensure the sauce doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.)

Instead of letting the pasta to sit for 2 hours while waiting the sauce to cook, I cooked the sauce first, then the pasta in a separate pot. I would not shorten the cooking time any less than 2 hours even though I halved the ingredients. You want the sauce to thicken and the oil to separate from the sauce. This is when the flavour is at its optimum – the same principle with curry sauce really.

Side note – This is optional but I like to add thyme to this sauce and as a final touch, some grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Another side note –  I will annouce the winner of the $40 giftcard of Elephantine’s Etsy shop tomorrow. I will contact the winner via email to get more information to send the giftcard. Thanks for participating!  🙂