Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook–so glad you’re here!
Today, I’m finishing up my exploration of tomato sauce, the fifth of my seven sauces of California Cuisine, by sharing my recipe for quick pizza sauce.
I think Mr. Stone Soup could eat pizza every single day. When I make pizza, he gets a grin on his face and bounces a little on the balls of his feet in anticipation. Pizzas, at their heart, are about piling just enough ingredients atop a really good crust and heating until the crust is nice and crispy, but still pliable, and the cheese is melty and golden-brown. They can be made using a white sauce as their base, or, as seen here, a lovely green pesto sauce:
zucchini, pesto and pine nut pizza:
and this great tomato tart:
But probably the most common sauce is a good red sauce. By far, the easiest and tastiest tomato-based pizza sauce is one made by mixing about a cup of my basic, slow-simmered tomato sauce and 3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste and letting it simmer for 20-30 minutes. The result is a nice, rich sauce that’s got all the depth of flavor of the slow simmering and the bright freshness of all the of-the-moment ingredients used to make it.
It can be used with any number of toppings from sausage to green peppers, or as seen here with pepperoni and peperoncini peppers:
In addition to my slow-cooked tomato sauce that I keep frozen in 2-3 cup quantities, I try to keep fresh pizza dough in my freezer that I can defrost for an easy weeknight dinner. But I also love these great, little pre-made cornmeal crusts made by Vicolo:
They cook crispy and tasty and are substantial enough to make for a satisfying dinner.
I’ve enjoyed our exploration of tomato sauce over the last few weeks. Tune in later in the week when I begin my exploration of the next of the California Cuisine sauces: Hollandaise.
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
