Basic Pizza Sauce
Basic Pizza Sauce
This is a great sauce that complements a wide variety of toppings and has become a family favorite for pizza night.
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Ingredients
- 5 28-ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes or 8 pounds fresh tomatoes
- 3 pounds red sweet peppers
- 8 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Line a roasting pan with parchment paper. Strain tomatoes, and place on a single layer in the lined pan. I reserve the juice for other recipes.
- Line a baking sheet with tin foil. Cut the sweet peppers in half, remove stems, seeds and membranes and add cut side down to the foil lined baking sheet. Add the peeled garlic cloves to the same baking sheet.
- Roast tomatoes, peppers and garlic (in the two pans) in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until pepper skins are browned.
- Remove both pans from oven.
- Fold the tinfoil up around the peppers and garlic and let rest for about 15 minutes.
- When tomatoes are cool enough to handle, chop coarsely, discarding excess juice, and transfer to a large stainless-steel stock pot. Remove loose skin from peppers, roughly chop peppers and garlic, add to pot. Stir in molasses, sugar and salt. Cook at medium high, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
- Blend all ingredients in the pot until smooth with an immersion blender. Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Return strained mixture to pot. Stir in the basil, oregano and black pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
- Remove the pan from heat and stir in lemon juice.
- Ladle hot sauce into sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch of head space. Process in a boiling water canner for 35 minutes.
- For instructions to prepare jars, please visit the Ball Canning website.