Author Notes

If you don't have time to make your own sauce, don't  let that stop you from making your own pizza!  Use your favorite store bought marinara sauce, but thicken it a bit over medium heat so that it does not make the crust soggy.  Be sure to cool any pizza sauce completely before using it on raw pizza dough.

Use this sauce when making California Pizza Kitchen's Sicilian Pizza (pictured above).

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 large (1/2 pound) Roma tomatoes
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano, or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil, or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
pinch of ground black pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Instructions

Makes 1 Cup

1. Heat the olive oil in a small nonstick frying pan over medium heat.  Do not allow it to smoke.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until it just begins to turn light brown, 1 to 2 minutes.  Do not allow the garlic to burn, as it will make the sauce bitter.

2. Add the remaining sauce ingredients except the tomato paste, and stir well.  Reduce the heat and simmer the sauce until all the liquid evaporates, about 10 minutes.  Stir int he tomato paste and cook for an additional 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat and cool completely before using.  Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Variation: Spicy Marinara Sauce
Double the amount of garlic and add 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes along with it.  roughly chop 2 fresh basil leaves and stir into the sauce after adding the tomato paste.