Our tomatoes were late this year. I’m not really sure why – they were slow to grow and slow to fruit and they sure felt slow to ripen, but they finally are here.

I ate one raw today. A big one. They are so incredibly sweet – I have to think that like with wine, a really hot year produces really sugary fruit. All they really need is a little salt.

But I can’t eat all of them raw with salt. Because then I will just be eating tomatoes all day every day. Which would be nice, but some protein, fat and carbs will probably be needed at some point.

So last weekend, as the tomatoes started to pile up, we decided to make this fresh tomato butter sauce.

This was actually my first post-Feast homemade meal. We topped some long pasta with the sauce, some basil, Parmesan, and a few chopped up anchovies. It was perfection. I could have eaten so much more than I did.

Here’s what you need:
6 Tbsp. butter
1 medium white onion, diced
5-6 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1 tsp. kosher salt

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in the bottom of a Dutch oven, then cook the onions until softened. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Keep simmering for 20-30 minutes or until everything is broken down. Stir in the remaining butter and the salt.

Remove the sauce from the heat and use a stick blender to blend until smooth (be careful! only have the blender on when the blade is submerged. Splashing hot liquids can burn!)

Next, run the tomato sauce through a fine mesh strainer. Toss with cooked pasta (you will have way more than you need for one meal) and top with shaved Parmesan, chopped anchovies, fresh basil and salt and pepper.