Roasted Tomato Basil Sauce with Bucatini

I've never eaten bucatini, but I had a box in my cupboard.  I was watching "Cooking Channel" last night and saw this on Guy's show...we all know who Guy is, right?  I decided this would be how I would try it.  I'm preparing for heat wave weather next week, so was going to take advantage of using my oven...

I halved Jimmy John's recipe.  Because I did, I cut the oven time down to 3 hours at 275°F.

• 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 Walla Walla sweet onion, finely diced 
• One 6-ounce can organic, no-salt added tomato paste 
• Two 14-ounce cans organic no-salt added tomato sauce 
• 1 cup organic "Better than Bouillon" low-sodium chicken stock 
• 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves 
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish
• 1 Parmesan rind (my own addition)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar 
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 pound bucatini, cooked to al dente 

I loved the idea of roasting tomato sauce.  This is why I made this recipe from "Jimmy's grandma".  She is apparently from Wisconsin.  I've also never done it.  I ran in the door from work and started the sauce immediately.  I discovered I forgot to buy fresh basil while out shopping today!!!!  OH NO. 😟  However, I did have fresh "freeze dried" basil so it would have to do though I love my fresh herbs...  I did have some fresh Italian parsley so I would use that at the end too.

I just used a dutch oven since I halved the recipe.  I preheated the oven and diced the onion and chopped the garlic.  I sauteed these in the butter until soft and sweated out until just starting to turn golden brown.

I added in the tomato paste and cooked it out in the onions for a couple of minutes.  I added in the stock, Parmesan rind, S&P and tomato sauce and brought to a boil.  I covered with a lid and popped this into the oven.  On the show they didn't show it covered or say it, but the recipe said to, so I went with that.  I set the timer and every 30 minutes I took it out and stirred.  Below was the last stir:

When done, I removed the rind.  I put in the basil (& parsley), Parmesan and sugar.

I used my immersion blender to puree it up until smooth.  They didn't show this step on the show at all either.  I seasoned with S&P.  MWAH - perfection!

I cooked the bucatini and added it in.

I mixed well and served with more Parm.  

Wowza.  This was spectacular... It reminded me of another perfect sauce I've made before.   I am so glad I made this and saw it on t.v. last night.  The bucatini was perfectly "al dente" and hugged the sauce.  How can I have NOT had this before in my life????  AND the sauce was was "simple as in delectable" and at its very, very best.  MmmmMmmm...  Winner winner pasta dinner, right Guy?  😉  P.S.  There was still too much sauce left so I made the rest of the bucatini and sent it for our lunches.  My son was crazy for this dish... I pretty much saw him scooping the bowl clean before it went in the dishwasher.