Roasted Garlic Pizza Sauce

With mounting sticker shock in the supermarket, more people prefer to avoid convenience foods and enjoy the versatility of their own signature sauces. A small tin of pizza sauce may cost almost as much as a 28 ounce tin of tomatoes and for the price of two tiny tins of sauce, you can buy a large tin of premium tomatoes. You can add your favorite ingredients and freeze your pizza sauce for later use.

For under $2 you will have enough sauce for approximately ten pizzas and you will find this sauce very easy to make! Two bunches of garlic may seem like a lot, but when you consider how many pizzas you can make with this amount and how mild roasted garlic is, it’s really not too much.

For pizza crust recipes made with either yeast or soda, visit our Gourmand2go Pizza page!

1 28 oz can San Marzano Tomatoes

2 bunches garlic, roasted

1 shallot, minced

1 tbls chipotlé powder or smoked paprika

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tbls balsamic vinegar or lime juice

½ tsp sea salt

1-2 tbls olive oil

2-4 tbls tomato paste

2 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp dried basil

1 tbls fennel seed

1 tsp dried parsley

1 tbls fresh minced chili pepper, optional

Slice tips off garlic cloves on both bunches and drizzle a small amount of olive oil over. Wrap in foil and roast at 350° F for approximately 20-30 minutes or until cloves soften and turn a deep golden color.

Allow to cool until cloves can be squeezed out of their skins and mashed with a fork.

Mince shallot and sauté in olive oil in sauce pan until transparent. Add fennel seed, then add chipotlé or smoked paprika and stir into oil. Pour in tomatoes and break them into chunks; stir in tomato paste and garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt, and optional fresh chili pepper (if desired); allow to simmer gently for 40-60 minutes, stirring occasionally and breaking up tomatoes. Add herbs and black pepper near the end of the hour. Puré with a hand blender or allow to cool and puré in a stand blender. Adjust thickness if necessary by adding more tomato paste or some red wine.

Allow sauce to cool, then spoon into small containers to be frozen for later use. The smallest Rubbermaid container is perfect for a 15” round pizza, but containers that came with candied fruit peel can be reused as well. These will fit nicely along side juice containers in the freezer door.

It won’t take long for these small containers to defrost either in the fridge for the next day’s use, or in the microwave for immediate use. Try adjusting the seasonings and adding different fresh chilis, pine nuts, or others of your favorite pizza sauce ingredients. Be creative and develop your own secret sauce . . .