Pizza Sauce Recipes

[waitingtocook]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

Just my two cents on sauce recipes....

When I first cooked pizza, I wanted to be completely authentic and true to the Pizza Napoletana recipe, but soon found myself tinkering, as I do with every recipe.

My sauce starts with a good amount of the best extra virgin olive oil I can find. Put about 1/5 - 1/4 cup into a saucepan, enough to cover the base. Chop 1-2 red onions in half through the centre (not the root) and place cut side down in the oil, Add 2-3 whole garlic cloves, bashed but still whole, 1 red chilli, whole but pricked a few times with a knife, a few bay leaves and a few sprigs of tyhme. Put on a very very low heat and gently let it cook for a while. The idea is to infuse the oil as much as cook the onion. Depending on how low your heat, this can take a while, but you want the oil to just barely bubble. Keep checking the onions. You want them to nicely caramalise, not burn.

Once the onions have nicely coloured, take all the bits and pieces out of the oil and add 2 tins of whole Italian tomatoes and a good pinch of dried oregano. Season well with salt and pepper. Again, time and gentle heat is key. Mash the whole tomatoes a little to break them up. Once the sauce has thickened a little, taste and season again.

Now, here is the final touch. Take about 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar in a small pan. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar and boil down to almost nothing, about a teaspoon of syrupy liquid. A tip, don't stand over the pan as it boils, breathing in vinegar fumes is not fun.

Anyways, add this syrup to the tomato sauce and mix in. Sauce finished.

I know this sounds complicated, but I find it produces a subtly flavoured sauce, letting none of the other ingredients take over from the tomato. It leaves a sauce with still enough liquid and tomato so some cooking can take place in-oven. The vinegar/sugar step is an old french trick I think, called a gastrique and it really does lift any tomato based sauce. Sort of adds a little bit of sweet/sour, or as the Italians call it agre dolce

So, that concludes my sauce recipe. Let me know what you think.

[texassourdough]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

Hi Elizabeth!

I hadn't seen Ken's junkyard stew approach but that sounds like a good idea! Glad you poked the idea back up on the forum!

Thanks!
Jay

[Puy de Dome]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

I have been using a tube of tomato puree, add a slosh of water and a slosh of EVOO, a scrunch of black pepper, and a couple of cloves of garlic crushed into the mix.

That's it. I don't suppose it's perfect, but it's quick and tasty.

[egalecki]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

I've been making stew the next day with the retained heat- I just throw the sauce in with the meat. I've also been taking Ken's idea to use the leftover toppings in it too! Really tasty!

[Frances]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

I usaully make a Lasagne with it, or Spaghetti with Bolognaise sauce. It'll keep in the fridge for a couple of days unil you get round to using it up.

[Burntroof ofmouth]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

Anyone have a good way of saving sauce i tend to throw out sauce thats left over. frezze the best way ? In what wonton soup container, what my mom allways did

[FIREANDFLAMES]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

CURRY PIZZA SAUCE

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tbls curry spices
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 clove garlic
1 tbls minced onion
1 tbls fresh chopped cilantro
1 tbls ghee (clarified butter)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook this sauce until onion and garlic become mushy.

[jco9454707]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

Try adding a cup of red wine! Red Wine is said to bring on different flavors in tomatoes the tongue can't detect without the alcohol in red wine.

[BrianShaw]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

ditto, except red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice.

[Tim F]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

I love just a tin of tomatoes roughly mushed up, with a bit of oregano and chopped basil, a squeeze of lemon juice and a little salt!

[70chevelle]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

I do the canned San Marzano's also. I do drain a little liquid out of the can and put in the food processor. My twist, that I learned from another message board is to take dry spices, rosemary, fennel, basil, oregano, and ? and put them in a bowl. Wet them and put in the microwave for 30 seconds on defrost. It releases the oils and aromatics. Then I put some fresh garlic in the San Marzano's along with the spices and salt & pepper. I use what I can, and then I put a pizza's worth of sauce in a ziplock bag(s) and then throw them in the freezer for the next batch of pizza's.

[james]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

I make an uncooked sauce from a can of San Marzano tomatoes unstrained. Add some italian seasoning, a clove or two of garlic and mash it all together with a pastry blender. Usually comes out pretty darn good.
Rob

The same here, except that I pick out the tomatoes, and leave the sauce behind -- and I put it through a food mill. Fast and excellent. But you need to start with really good tomatoes.
James

[FIREANDFLAMES]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

quick question or two about tomato sauce. once you open a can of tomatoes and add ingredients such as garlic simmered in olive oil, and put in a container in the fridge, how long will this sauce be good?? also if the sauce mixture including the tomatoes are simmered and cooked and put in the fridge, how long will this be good? would like to make more sauce than i need for one nights cooking and have the sauce on hand. probably a dumb question but needed to ask anyway. thanks.

Always make a fresh sauce whenever you make your pizza. Unless your gonna have pizza again the next day. Keep it simple so the sauce does not overpower the ingredients! The sauce is like the foundation of a house-very important but covered up, you know its there but its not the main focus.

[rtnaw]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

I make an uncooked sauce from a can of San Marzano tomatoes unstrained. Add some italian seasoning, a clove or two of garlic and mash it all together with a pastry blender. Usually comes out pretty darn good. Unless I'm making my favorite pizza (carmelized onions, prosciutto, sun dried tomatoes all on top of an Alfredo sauce, then covered with fresh grated asiago cheese)

Rob

[thebadger]

Re: Pizza Sauce Recipes

I think Tomato based products keep a lot longer than most. I say if you don't see any "mold" and it tastes okay - it should be fine.

I would think a sauce would keep for 3-4 weeks but I'm not "food safety" expert.

Dick