Augustine and Pope Gregory the Great viewed that the only place for sex in marriage is procreation. It was also one of the things that Augustine and Jerome actually agreed on (see Henry Chadwick's "The Early Christian Church"). The passage from St. Paul was, as you pointed out, a curb for some theologians.
I agree. The idea that sex in marriage is also "recreational" and just for "marital pleasure" is a novel one, I would even dare say latter 20th century innovation.
For centuries on end, the Church held that sex has only procreative function. Any pleasure derived form it was from the devil. This was the basis for +Augustine's Confessions and his belief that, like Satan, concupiscence enslaves us.
Modern Christianity (all of it) views sex differently than even 100 years ago. Where does it say in the Scripture that sex was created by God for any other purpose than procreation? Where does it say that sex is also to be used to "give pleasure" to one's spouse, for "recreation?"
We still teach that. So, where does the Church teach that sex is bad?