| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Active: | 35 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- One 28-ounce can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 fresh bay leaves
- 1 small onion, peeled and cut in half
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup nuts (pine nuts or walnuts)
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 pound dried spaghetti
Instructions
- Set up your grill for cooking with direct and indirect heat. If using a charcoal grill, build the coals on one side only. If using a gas grill, heat one side only.
- Make the tomato sauce: Combine the tomatoes along with their juices, butter, red pepper flakes, bay leaves, onion halves and a pinch of salt in a very large saucepan or skillet. Place over the indirect-heat side of the grill and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and using a potato masher to smash the whole tomatoes at the halfway mark. Discard the onion and bay leaves.
- Make the pesto: In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the garlic and nuts until chopped. Add the basil with a pinch of salt and pulse until it makes coarse crumbs. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the Parmesan and olive oil. Mix until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.
- Place a large pot of salted water over the direct-heat side of the grill and bring to a boil. Cook the pasta 2 minutes less than the package directions, then scoop out into the tomato sauce, adding 1/2 cup pasta water. Toss to coat, then remove from the heat. (If the pasta is too dry, add some more pasta water.) Stir half the pesto mixture into the pasta. Plate and serve immediately with more pesto over the top.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 1013 |
| Total Fat | 57 g |
| Saturated Fat | 17 g |
| Carbohydrates | 101 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 9 g |
| Sugar | 9 g |
| Protein | 27 g |
| Cholesterol | 51 mg |
| Sodium | 988 mg |
Reviews
This sauce is amazing!! My family is a crowd of carnivores, so I did add Italian sausage and ground round to it. Husband, kids and grandkids love it! (Of course, I didn’t tell them how easy it is to make )
This was delicious! This will be my go to spaghetti sauce from now on. It’s so simple, fresh, and tasty! I did not have pine nuts, so I used pistachios and almonds.
This is now my go to sauce. Easy and delicious
Delicious and simple. I made it stovetop, and on the grill. Be careful with the heat on your grill….cooked down very fast, but the smokey flavor really added to it.
This is the best sauce I’ve Ever made. Ever. Easy to do with a lot of ingredients already on hand. And it is delicious. It’s the way I’ve always wanted spaghetti to taste. This will be my goto forever. Don’t wait on this one.
Absolutely fantastic. I could not believe how easy this sauce was to make, and so delicious. I took Michael’s advice and used the basil stems from the pesto in the sauce. Absolute perfection.
This sauce is absolutely hands down the best and it’s also one of the easiest too. My husband is super picky and even he loved it. Thank you Lizzie and Michael for bringing it to us along with those chicken cutlets!
I couldn’t believe how good this was! I always make my own marinara and simmer it for 2 hours so I was a bit skeptical that something so quick and easy could be so flavorful It was the butter – made it rich and flavorful, don’t skip it, I even used slightly less butter. Next time I will chop the onion finely and add to the sauce but otherwise I wouldn’t change a thing. Make this, you won’t be sorry!!
This is so easy it is criminal! And the flavor is off the charts good. YUMMY Our new favorite. Thanks Michael
This was delicious! I chopped up the onion and added 2 chopped cloves of garlic, and cooked on the stove. My husband doesn’t really like pesto, but he loved it in this dish! I’ll definitely make this a lot!