Positively Perfect Pizza Sauce
This is just an outline, you can add or subtract whatever strikes your fancy. We like our sauce to be a little on the spicier side, but if you prefer it mild, just leave out the crushed red pepper and garlic. I will often substitute fresh herbs for the Italian seasoning. Fresh torn basil leaves are heavenly in this.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs plum tomatoes halved
- 1 tbsp fresh garlic minced
- ⅓ cup good extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- smoked paprika and red chili flakes to taste
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a Dutch oven and cook at the highest temperature in your oven until tomatoes are mushy, 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven, remove the skins from the tomatoes, (cutting the tomatoes in half before cooking is the trick here).Mash the tomatoes with a potato masher and then use an immersion blender to smooth it out. If the sauce is too runny, put it back into the oven to reduce to the right consistency.
Notes
I like to make my pizza sauce ahead, put it in small containers, and then freeze them for another day. They thaw quickly and it just makes making pizza that much quicker. You need about 1/3 cup of sauce for a large pizza.