I had wanted to make a sweet and seasonal sauce by adding some ripe persimmon in with the tomatoes, but apparently persimmons are already out of season and could not be found in 3 locations. Thus, I decided to concoct a salty-cheesy tomato sauce to pair with some fresh grilled veggies. I prefer to make my tomato sauces from fresh tomatoes, even when out of season (I'm stubborn like that), so this recipe would be more flavorful in the Summer. Otherwise, one could always substitute canned tomatoes if the fresh ones look sub-par.
Kara's Cheesy Pizza Sauce: 
-4 ripe tomatoes on the vine, diced
-1/2 red bell pepper, diced
-1 clove garlic
-1/4 cup red wine
-1 dried bay leaf
-2 tbsp olive oil
-1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly-grated
-salt and pepper, to taste
Add the olive oil, diced tomatoes, salt and pepper to a saucepan over medium-high heat and keep covered while preparing other ingredients. Cut the garlic clove into quarters (I make 4 horizontal slices across the width) and add to the pan along with bay leaf.
Dice the bell pepper and saute in olive oil, salt and pepper until tender and moderately blackened on the skin. Add to sauce.
Leave saucepan uncovered and add red wine. Continue to simmer sauce uncovered, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. When sauce has almost reached your desired consistency, remove the garlic quarters and bay leaf, and add grated Parmesan cheese. Stir to combine.
Total time: About 20 minutes
Can be used directly or refrigerated.
Pizza Toppings: Fontina cheese, Parmesan cheese, sauteed zucchini, spinach and yellow heirloom tomato.
Final thoughts: We need a bit more practice with the pizza peel and stone, as well as rolling out the crust thinner to prevent deep-dish fluffing up, but overall... Delicious!
Yum! You've inspired me to try some homemade pizzas again, our favorite toppings were sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and fresh basil. We still need to find a good fresh pizza crust nearby to use...do you remember that time senior year when we made pizza including the dough from scratch and it was literally an all day activity?! I don't think we finally had dinner until like 10 pm, haha. But it was the best pizza ever because we had been waiting for it for like eight hours!
ReplyDeleteI actually like the Whole Foods pizza dough quite a bit... it's nice and fresh- the kind that they use for their own pizzas, so if there's none left you can just go ask at the bakery and they'll box some up for you.
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