Tomato, Butter, Onion

In a world of highly wrought, heavily styled dishes that teem with squiggles, foams and spherification, often it's quite a relief to return to simplicity. Recently some of my favourite dishes have been pared down; crisp skin, juicy pink flesh of a quail with aioli at Barrafina from just today may be one of my stand-out dishes of the year. A well-cooked steak, such a simple meal and yet so gratifying.

Pasta holds up so well to simple sauces. That tug of spaghetti on the teeth and the sauce wrapping itself seductively around the strands is irresistible, the lure of shovelling it in your gob as quickly as possible overwhelming. Simple doesn't always mean quick though; this dish, like another of my staple dishes, onion and anchovy pasta, takes a good 45 minutes to an hour.

It really couldn't be easier. For every two people take one tin of the best quality tinned tomatoes you can find and lob it in a saucepan with a healthy stick of butter and half a whole onion. Simmer merrily for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally until nice and thick, remove the onion and toss it through some just-cooked spaghetti. Season with salt. Eat it.

Thanks to Smitten Kitchen for bringing this to my attention.