Driftless Foodie: For the love of Pizza Part 2 – the sauce!

By Jessica Woodward

Monday, June 17, 2024 12:41 pm

It’s all about that sauce!!!

But seriously, the sauce makes or breaks the pizza. You need to make sure you have not only a really good tasting sauce, but also the right ratio of sauce to crust to prevent a soggy bottom. No one likes a soggy bottom.

In this pizza part two you will learn how to make a super simple pizza sauce that you will for sure make on repeat. When I made this sauce recently, we had some company over for our pizza night. And our friend said, “I don’t normally like pizza sauce, but I need this recipe.” So that should really say something!

Unfortunately, I don’t have any fond memories of this homemade pizza sauce. But I’m hoping my tiny sous chef will someday.

This sauce can come together in as little as 30 minutes. Or you can let it simmer longer if your schedule allows it to for some extra flavor. The longer you let it simmer, the more concentrated the flavor will be. This easy pizza sauce is a dump recipe. Meaning, you dump it all in a pot and keep doing whatever you were doing!

The good news is that most of the ingredients for this recipe are pantry staples. What I like to do is keep a few sets of these ingredients on hand so I can make the sauce at any given time. Or, I make a really large batch and can the sauce already made for an even quicker pizza night.

Remember it’s not just the sauce but also the ratio of the crust to the sauce. So, when your sauce is all ready to get put on the pizza, I recommend finding your measuring cups. Take a 1/2 cup measuring spoon full of sauce and pour it in the middle of the crust. Use the back of the measuring cup in a circular motion and spread it from the center to the outside of the crust. You don’t want it to be drowning in sauce and you want to be able to see some of the crust through the sauce. Keep that in mind—

Okay, let’s get saucy!

For the next and final part to this pizza series, you will learn how to make the most delicious basil oil to drizzle over top of your pizza as the finishing touch!

(Jessica Woodward photo)

Easy Pizza Sauce 

Ingredients

1 can (15 oz) fire roasted tomatoes

1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce

2 TBSP tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, smashed

4 big fresh basil leaves (or 2 tsp dried)

3 sprigs fresh parsley (or 1.5 tsp dried)

Salt and pepper

Add it all to a pot and simmer for 30 minutes or up to 3 hours. Remember, the longer the better.

Using a stick blender or food processor, blend sauce until smooth.

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