Buckwheat and Cornmeal Polenta Baked Marcella’s Way

The first tomato sauce I ever cooked in my life is, to this day, one of my family s favorites and, I am told, one of the most popular with my students and with many of my readers. Perhaps because it is so simple: It is just tomato, butter, and a whole onion. No chopping, no sautéing; it practically cooks itself, and to me, it has the clearest, sweetest taste of any tomato sauce.

I often have some in the refrigerator to satisfy any sudden yearnings for it that may manifest themselves