Pizza 101 - Perfect Pizza Sauce and The Liebster Award

When most of us think of pizza, we think of it coming with oodles of cheese and toppings, and a red sauce made from tomatoes.  Some of us like it with a white sauce, which is thickened milk with butter, cheese and herbs, or just an olive oil glaze with garlic, or salsa, or beans, or ricotta with herbs, or...  Some of us like it with any one of those things.  I am one of those people.  So, while it was difficult to choose which sauce to cover, I decided to go with the traditional tomato sauce for the second portion of the Pizza 101 tutorial. I did toil, and I finally decided that I could be here for days and still not cover all of the best sauces for pizza.  Really.

This very flavorful basic red sauce is extremely simple to put together regardless of the season (I have an awesome fresh sauce recipe for summer tomatoes to share when tomatoes are back in season).  But since I'm presently out of said summer sauce (no fresh tomatoes worth a squat in the dead of winter where I live and I've used up my stored lot), I'll share a simple tomato sauce made from pureed tomatoes, dried herbs, fresh onion and garlic.  Some people like a sweet sauce (I am not one of them), and if this is you, add a little raw honey or a pinch of sugar to the sauce.

Perfect Pizza Sauce
enough for two 12-14 inch pizzas

• 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce or tomato puree
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 Tbs onion, shredded (do this with a fresh onion and a cheese grater)
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together.

After you have rolled out your crust, use half of this mixture for each crust; spread with the back of a spoon over the crust to within a half inch from the edge.

If you do not use the whole recipe, this sauce will keep in the refrigerator for several days, and it freezes well, too.  We always have some on hand because my kids like to make little pizzas for lunch from the bread dough always present in our fridge (thanks to the awesome technique provided by the Artisan Bread in Five duo, who, by the way, have a new book entirely dedicated to pizza which is most definitely worth a look if you love pizza as much as we do).

And, of course, I will share more pizza recipes in the future that include some of those other delicious sauces.

Next up - Toppings (and how to make your own Italian sausage)!

But first, I'm so excited to share this news:

Yesterday I was flattered to be awarded the Liebster award from Mama F at Doggie at the Dinner Table.  Then, last night, I recieved another from Chris at Sweet Mornings!  What an honor!

The Liebster Blog Liebster is German and translates to "dearest" or "favorite". It is meant for up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers.

Here are the rules:

- Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog

- Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you

- Copy and paste the blog award on your blog

- Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed

- Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog

I feel extra fortunate that with both awards, I am able to award ten other blogs.  It was difficult to choose only ten because there are just so many fantastic blogs out there, but I've finally gotten my list down.  So, without further ado, I am awarding the Liebster to:

The Wimpy Vegetarian

GeorgieCakes

Vegetarian Mama

Badger Girl Learns to Cook

My Twisted Recipes

The Irish Mother

PassionEats

Table for Seven

Soni's Food for Thought

My Gingerbread Men

Thank you all so much for your support and for reading my blog.  And thank you Mama F and Chris for nominating me!  I feel so fortunate to be a part of such a warm, generous, and supportive community!