Thursday, August 30, 2007

It's Not Delivery, It's Homemade - Part II: The Sauce


And so begins Part II – The Sauce. I previously posted Part I – The Dough (see below) to explain how to make homemade pizza dough. Now the next step:

Pizza/Calzone Sauce

½ green pepper, chopped
½ onion, chopped
2 small cloves garlic, minced
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes, undrained
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and simmer at least ½ hour. Use as directed in the pizza/calzone recipe posted in Part I.

Yes it is that simple! This sauce keeps very well in the refrigerator and also freezes well. One sauce recipe will usually get me through TWO pizza dough recipes.

If you are making calzones to freeze individually, freeze the sauce in individual portions as well. Depending on how much sauce you like with your calzone, the smallest size of Gladware containers work really well. That way in the morning you can grab a calzone and grab a container of sauce for your lunch. It will be mostly thawed out by lunchtime. Just heat and eat.

You can also use leftover sauce to make baked pizza pasta. Cook pasta as directed on package. Drain and place in casserole dish. Top with sauce and toppings. Cover top with cheese. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F until cheese is melted and pasta is warm throughout, probably about 20 minutes or so.

So is it worth it? If you have time I say yes. The sauce is simple and uses all natural ingredients so it is much healthier than pre-made sauce that could have a lot of unnecessary additives or preservatives. It also makes a large batch that can be used for several meals and can be easily frozen for later use.

Enjoy! Ciao!

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