Basic Tomato Sauce
A reader responded to my post on pizza dough with the following bleg: "Thanks for the post on dough, but what about a pizza sauce recipe?" For you, of course, basic tomato sauce along with some thoughts about Italian pizza.
Ruminations: Typically in Italy, each person orders his own pizza, which is eaten with a knife and fork. The crust is very thin and it is not heavily dressed, with about two tablespoons of sauce for a 10-inch pie. The emphasis is on the freshest and highest quality ingredients; simply put, quality over quantity. This also means the Italian pizza has far fewer calories than the typical American pizza.
Tomato sauce theory: Tomato sauce (pomodoro) is simply a reduction of fresh tomatoes sauteed with a clove or two of garlic, with the garlic being removed prior to running the sauce through a food mill (passatutto). Some people enjoy the bite that a pinch of crushed red pepper provides when added during the sauté, others like a little diced onion.
Tomato sauce recipe: The following tomato sauce recipe is adapted from the kitchen of Stile Mediterraneo, a wonderful cooking school near Lecce, Italy. www.stilemediterraneo.it. I am grateful to Cinzia and Marika Rascazzo for showing me how to shop for tomatoes and prepare a sauce based on their grandmother's Puglian technique. Cinzia and Marika would be the first to tell you this is not a pizza sauce recipe because the sauce is not from a region where pizza was traditionally cooked. I find the sauce works well on pizza and have adapted it to that use, in addition to its classical use dressing orecchietti, Puglia's famous duram wheat pasta shaped like little ears.
Wash two pounds of very ripe vine tomatoes (preferably still on the vine), dry, and cut in half. Place tomatoes in a pot with olive oil, two peeled cloves of garlic, and a pinch of crushed red pepper. Saute over low to medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for approximately 15-20 minutes, with the pot's lid ajar, remembering to stir the pot every few minutes.
(Note: If necessary, you can substitute high quality canned tomatoes, such as whole, peeled San Marzano, if ripe tomatoes are not available.)
Remove the garlic from the pot and discard. Run the sauce through a food mill using the disk with the finest (smallest) holes, so that the skins and seeds are separated from the sauce. Add a generous pinch of salt or two and cook the sauce for another 15 minutes or so to reduce it further.
A reader responded to my post on pizza dough with the following bleg: "Thanks for the post on dough, but what about a pizza sauce recipe?" For you, of course, basic tomato sauce along with some thoughts about Italian pizza.
Ruminations: Typically in Italy, each person orders his own pizza, which is eaten with a knife and fork. The crust is very thin and it is not heavily dressed, with about two tablespoons of sauce for a 10-inch pie. The emphasis is on the freshest and highest quality ingredients; simply put, quality over quantity. This also means the Italian pizza has far fewer calories than the typical American pizza.
Tomato sauce theory: Tomato sauce (pomodoro) is simply a reduction of fresh tomatoes sauteed with a clove or two of garlic, with the garlic being removed prior to running the sauce through a food mill (passatutto). Some people enjoy the bite that a pinch of crushed red pepper provides when added during the sauté, others like a little diced onion.
Tomato sauce recipe: The following tomato sauce recipe is adapted from the kitchen of Stile Mediterraneo, a wonderful cooking school near Lecce, Italy. www.stilemediterraneo.it. I am grateful to Cinzia and Marika Rascazzo for showing me how to shop for tomatoes and prepare a sauce based on their grandmother's Puglian technique. Cinzia and Marika would be the first to tell you this is not a pizza sauce recipe because the sauce is not from a region where pizza was traditionally cooked. I find the sauce works well on pizza and have adapted it to that use, in addition to its classical use dressing orecchietti, Puglia's famous duram wheat pasta shaped like little ears.
Wash two pounds of very ripe vine tomatoes (preferably still on the vine), dry, and cut in half. Place tomatoes in a pot with olive oil, two peeled cloves of garlic, and a pinch of crushed red pepper. Saute over low to medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for approximately 15-20 minutes, with the pot's lid ajar, remembering to stir the pot every few minutes.
(Note: If necessary, you can substitute high quality canned tomatoes, such as whole, peeled San Marzano, if ripe tomatoes are not available.)
Remove the garlic from the pot and discard. Run the sauce through a food mill using the disk with the finest (smallest) holes, so that the skins and seeds are separated from the sauce. Add a generous pinch of salt or two and cook the sauce for another 15 minutes or so to reduce it further.
Hint: If the sauce is particularly thin (sometimes the tomatoes are plump with water), add a tablespoon of tomato paste to the sauce and cook over low heat for another 5 minutes.
Dress a 10-inch pie with about 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce, sprinkle a little fresh oregano, if desired, and dot the top of the pie with a few pieces of fresh mozzarella, or fresh mozzarella di buffala. Add other ingredients, as desired, while taking care not to overdress your pizza.
Note: This simple sauce freezes well, and can be used for tomato-based pasta sauces such as garlic and basil, meat sauces, and butter and onion sauce, simply by adding the tomato sauce after sautéing the other ingredients.
Dress a 10-inch pie with about 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce, sprinkle a little fresh oregano, if desired, and dot the top of the pie with a few pieces of fresh mozzarella, or fresh mozzarella di buffala. Add other ingredients, as desired, while taking care not to overdress your pizza.
Note: This simple sauce freezes well, and can be used for tomato-based pasta sauces such as garlic and basil, meat sauces, and butter and onion sauce, simply by adding the tomato sauce after sautéing the other ingredients.
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