Tomato and Cream sauce

I made this sauce last night to go with homemade spinach and ricotta gnocchi. They were awesome - an attempt to use up wilting spinach as well as containers of ricotta cheese lurking in our fridge from previous endeavours into baked ziti. The recipe is from Marcella Hazan's Classic Italian Cooking. It was easy, tasty, and the leftovers can be frozen for those nights when cooking dinner is a desperate task.

1/4 pound unsalted butter, that's one stick, typically 4 ounces. (I know, don't tell my husband.)

3 Tbs. finely chopped onion

1 stalk finely chopped celery

2 carrots, finely chopped

1 28oz can of diced or crushed tomatoes

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients except the cream in a large skillet and cook at the slightest simmer for one hour. Remove from the heat and process in a Cuisanart. Be sure to turn off the machine before the sauce looses all of its texture. Return the sauce to the heat on low and add the cream, taste and adjust seasoning.

The gnocchi recipe was also from her book, and if anybody is interested, I will post that as well. Otherwise I would recommend a tubular pasta for this sauce like penne, or perhaps a broad, flat, noodle like fettucini; but I am sure I am breaking some solemn Italian custom of shape and sauce matching...