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Pizza Sauce

Source of Recipe

From "Preserving by the Pint" by Marisa McClellan


Recipe Introduction

"Last summer, one of the vendors at my local farmers' market began selling cracked and slightly bruised tomatoes alongside his perfect ones. These seconds were a third of the price of their prettier siblings and just as tasty. Each week, I would buy more than I could possibly eat and so started to play around with little batches of preserves to use up the rest before they started to mold. This pizza sauce became the winning strategy for these tomatoes, as it comes together so quickly. With a ball of homemade dough from the freezer, we're just two steps away from homemade pizza, even on a busy weeknight."

List of Ingredients

◦ 1 dry quart tomatoes (about 2 pounds)
◦ 1 teaspoon olive oil
◦ 1 teaspoon kosher salt
◦ � teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
◦ � teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
◦ � teaspoon citric acid


Recipe

Prepare a boiling water bath and two half-pint jars. Place two lids in a small saucepan of water and bring to a gentle simmer.

Remove the skins from the tomatoes either by blanching them in a pot of boiling water, or with a serrated edge peeler. Core and dice the peeled tomatoes.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil, tomatoes, salt, Italian seasoning, and pepper. As they heat, use a potato masher or the back of a fork to help the tomato chunks break down into a rough sauce. Bring to a low boil and cook, stirring regularly, until the sauce thickens and reduces by half.

When the sauce is finished cooking, remove it from the heat. Funnel into the prepared jars, leaving � inch of headspace. Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Makes 2 half-pint jars






❧ Note: While this sauce can be made with any variety of tomato, choosing a meatier tomato, such as a plum, Roma, or beefsteak, means that your yield will be closer to mine. If you make it with watery tomatoes, bump up the starting weight by half a pound to ensure you get the proper yield.