Pure Margherita Sauce

Submitted by Melanie B.

"If you've followed any of my recipes on Food.com or my blog (www.baileytriplef.blogspot.com), you will know that while I love to experiment and try anything new, I happen to be very opinionated with a few specific things. Pizza is one of those things. I make pizza fairly often - I follow Chris Bianco's dough recipe and this pure sauce recipe with various toppings. To me, any other kind of pizza is not that good.....and I believe its my sauce that is the key!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 10mins
• Ingredients: 7
• Yields: 1 pot of sauce
• Serves: 16

ingredients

• 1 carrot, medium sized, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 (28 ounce) cans tomatoes, whole, San Marzano
• 2⁄3 medium white onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, roughly smashed
• sea salt
• fresh ground pepper
• extra virgin olive oil

directions

1. Place a bit of Olive Oil into a medium sized heavy stock pan and bring to medium heat. Add the onions and carrots. Sweat for a few minutes until soft. Add canned tomatoes and garlic and season. Reduce the heat to medium low and let cook, covered, for "a while".
2. Sometimes, I will get cheap and use 1 can of San Marzanos and 1 can of inexpensive tomatoes. Or, if I have fresh tomatoes that need to be used - I make sauce rather than ruining them in the refrigerator. This is all OK too. San Marzano is best -- but the other options will still give you a far better product than store bought sauce.
3. Basically I check it every 10 minutes or so. If my heat seems too high (too bubbley & starting to burn), I'll reduce it to very low. Once the mixture is very soft (at least 30 minutes or up to 60), puree with an immersion blender. I don't use a regular blender, because I don't want it to be perfectly velvet smooth, but use any tool that you prefer.
4. After pureed, test for seasoning and add more if needed. Continue cooking, covered on low heat for 15-30 minutes until thickened.
5. This is simply the most perfect clean and pure pizza sauce you will ever eat! If you are accustomed to store varieties, It tastes VERY different but it is SO much better! The color should be a bright orange-red -- with a little bit of tart and a little bit of natural sweet. Whatever you do -- NEVER EVER EVER ruin your sauce by adding any kind of additional sweetener - that's my opinionated part :).
6. When you turn off the heat, drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil for additional kick. This sauce can be refrigerated or frozen, but it is best when used immediately.