Tomato sauces, simple yet soulful

Sunday gravy, red sauce, marinara, ragu. These legendary sauces, all based upon the humble canned tomato, have the ability to elevate a box of pasta to the heights of culinary majesty.

Long-cooked sauces - like Sunday gravy, the touchstone of the Italian American kitchen, or Bolognese ragu, the storied heart of the cooking of Emilia Romagna - require hours of diligent, though not difficult, work.

But tomato sauce does not have to be a big production. With a can of good tomatoes and 15 minutes, you can even make a sauce vastly superior to (and cheaper than) anything you can buy in a jar.

Here are three recipes including my go-to 15-minute sauce. It can be completed in the time it takes to bring the pasta water to a boil and cook the pasta. The secret is cooking the sauce in a wide skillet.

Next is tomato sauce with onion and butter: If you have some heavy cream around, this simple sauce, from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (Knopf, $35), can be gilded with a tablespoon or two.

"Bolognese" has come to mean any tomato sauce with meat, but a true Bolognese, the way they make it in Bologna, is a very distinctive sauce in which chopped vegetables and meat are cooked gently, first in butter and oil, then in milk, then, finally, in tomatoes. Nothing is allowed to brown, and the result is incomparably sweet and rich. The classic use for this sauce is to top tagliatelle (or fettuccine).

Here are some sauce-making tips:

I figure the best specimens are selected for the "whole" cans, while factory seconds can end up in the crushed or pureed cans, so always buy whole tomatoes.

Taste the contents of two cans side by side; there can be significant differences. I buy imported San Marzano tomatoes from Italy, especially when they are on sale.

If you have meat in your sauce, you'll need at least an hour (maybe longer) to extract its flavor and make it silky, but for a meatless sauce, 45 minutes should do. nolead begins

Makes 4 to 6 servings

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Extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved

3 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 sprig fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon of either, dried (optional)

1 (28-ounce) can peeled San Marzano tomatoes

Salt and pepper

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1. Film the bottom of a skillet with oil and add garlic and herbs, if using.

2. Turn heat to medium and cook until garlic just starts to color, but doesn't brown. Add tomatoes and a big pinch of salt.

3. Crush the tomatoes with a potato masher. Bring contents of pot to a brisk simmer and cook until thick.

4. Give the sauce a good grinding of pepper and taste for salt. Fish out the garlic and herbs before serving. Makes about 2 cups, enough for 1 to 1 1/2 pounds pasta.

Per serving (based on 6, without pasta): 124 calories, 2 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams sugar, 10 grams fat, no cholesterol, 175 milligrams sodium, 3 grams dietary fiber.EndText

Makes 4 to 6 servings

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1 (28-ounce) can peeled San Marzano tomatoes, crushed, with the juice

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 large onion, peeled and cut in half

Salt

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1. Put all ingredients in a saucepan and cook, uncovered, at a slow but steady simmer, for 45 minutes, or until the fat floats free from the tomatoes.

2. Stir from time to time, mashing any large pieces of tomato in the pan with the back of a wooden spoon.

3. Taste and correct for salt.

4. Discard the onion before tossing sauce with pasta. Makes about 2 cups of sauce, enough for 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of pasta.

Note: A tablespoon or two of heavy cream may be added for additional richness.

Per serving (based on 6, without pasta): 186 calories, 2 grams protein, 12 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams sugar, 16 grams fat, 41 milligrams cholesterol, 381 milligrams sodium, 3 grams dietary fiber.EndText

Makes 6 to 8 servings

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4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 carrots, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

3 ribs celery, finely chopped (about 11/2 cups)

1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

1 large onion, finely chopped Salt

1 pound ground chuck

1 pound ground veal (or another pound of beef)

Freshly ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup dry white wine (optional)

2 cups whole milk

1 (28- or 35-ounce) can San Marzano tomatoes

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1. Place butter, oil, carrots, celery, parsley, onion, and 1 teaspoon salt in a large, heavy Dutch oven. Cover and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until fat begins to sizzle, then uncover and cook until vegetables soften, become translucent, and lose some of their brightness. (Vegetables should not brown; you may have to turn heat down to low.)

2. Still over medium to low heat, add meat, another teaspoon of salt, a good grinding of pepper, and nutmeg. With a large spoon, break up meat, smearing it against the bottom of the pot, so it's well integrated with the vegetables. Cook, stirring constantly, until meat loses all of its raw color and begins to look a bit granular, about 10 minutes. Add wine, turn heat up to medium high, and cook, stirring constantly, until wine is evaporated and the bottom of the pot looks almost dry, about 10 minutes.

3. Pour milk into pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer slowly until the milk evaporates, about 45 minutes. Stir frequently, especially toward the end, and make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot.

4. Crush tomatoes with your hands and add them to the pot. Rinse out the tomato can with about a cup of water and add to pot. Turn down heat to a very low simmer; bubbles should only occasionally break the surface. Cook for 3 hours uncovered. Makes about 2 quarts.

Per serving (based on 8, without pasta): 401 calories, 26 grams protein, 14 grams carbohydrates, 8 grams sugar, 27 grams fat, 106 milligrams cholesterol, 309 milligrams sodium, 3 grams dietary fiber.EndText