Name: Instant Pot Marcella Hazan Tomato Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 50 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons butter; 1 medium onion, peeled and halved; 2 (28-ounce) cans San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes (or plum tomatoes), crushed by hand, with juices; 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (If using Italian tomatoes - American canned tomatoes have extra sodium and don’t need more)

Description

Instant Pot Marcella Hazan Tomato Sauce. The famous sauce from Marcella's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, adapted to work in a pressure cooker.

Ingredients

Scale

4 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, peeled and halved
2 (28-ounce) cans San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes (or plum tomatoes), crushed by hand, with juices
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (If using Italian tomatoes - American canned tomatoes have extra sodium and don’t need more)

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Instructions

Melt the butter, crush the tomatoes, everything in the pot: Set the Instant Pot for Sauté mode (medium heat in a stovetop PC) and add the butter to the pot, and then the onion halves, cut side down. When the butter stops foaming, pour in the hand-crushed tomatoes. (Sprinkle with the fine sea salt if they are Italian canned tomatoes, otherwise, hold the salt.)
Pressure cook for 30 minutes with a natural pressure release: Pressure cook on high pressure for 30 minutes in an Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker ("Manual" or "Pressure Cook" mode), or for 24 minutes in a stovetop pressure cooker. Let the pressure come down naturally, about 15 minutes.
Discard the onion and serve: Discard the onion, give the sauce a vigorous stir to break up the tomatoes, and serve.

Notes

This recipe makes enough sauce to cover a pound of pasta
Chunky vs. smooth sauce: This is a chunky sauce - hand-crushing the tomatoes only goes so far. If you want a smooth sauce, use a stick blender to puree the tomatoes in the pot after cooking.
Extras: The beauty of this sauce is in its simplicity. And...I can't help myself. I mess with it. Marcella tosses everything in the pot; I melt the butter and brown the onions a little before adding the tomatoes. I will add a teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning or dried basil, or maybe mince fresh basil and sprinkle it over the sauce right before serving; Marcella uses her sauce straight up.

Tools

6 quart or larger pressure cooker (I love my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker)

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Category: Weeknight Dinner
Method: Pressure Cooker
Cuisine: Italian