italian essentials: awesome pizza sauce

How To Make italian essentials: awesome pizza sauce

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  Step 1
  PREP/PREPARE
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  Step 2
  San Marzano tomatoes are great for this recipe; however, I have had good luck with other, local, brands, such as Hunts.
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  Step 3
  Baked garlic produces a wonderful earthy flavor to this sauce. If you choose to use regular (not baked) garlic, then use one minced clove; not two.
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  Step 4
  What is the sugar for? The sugar aids in removing the bitter taste from the canned tomatoes. My suggestion would be to open the canned tomatoes, and give them a taste, if they have a slightly bitter taste, use the sugar. If they do not, you can leave the sugar out. FYI: The better the brand of tomatoes, the less chance they will be bitter.
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  Step 5
  Butter in a pizza sauce? Adding butter to the sauce helps gives it a richer, fuller mouthfeel.
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  Step 6
  Gather your ingredients (mise en place).
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  Step 7
  Add the butter and oil to a saucepan over medium heat.
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  Step 8
  When the butter melts, and stops foaming, give the pan a whirl to mix the oil, and butter, then add the onions.
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  Step 9
  Cook until they begin to soften, but not brown, about 3 – 4 minutes.
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  Step 10
  Add all the dry spices, and stir for an additional minute.
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  Step 11
  Add the garlic, and stir until fragrant, another 60 seconds. Then remove from heat.
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  Step 12
  Add the onion/spice mixture to a blender, and then add the sauce ingredients.
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  Step 13
  Blend until smooth.
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  Step 14
  So, why not cook the sauce ingredients with the spices, and onions? Well, I would, if they were fresh, not canned ingredients. However, canned ingredients are cooked before being canned, and they will be cooked again when they are used on a pizza. The more times something is cooked, the less flavor.
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  Step 15
  Do a final tasting for proper seasoning, and then store in a non-reactive container (glass), with a lid, in the fridge, until ready to use.
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  Step 16
  PLATE/PRESENT
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  Step 17
  Use anywhere you would use a good pizza sauce. Enjoy.
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  Step 18
  Keep the faith, and keep cooking.
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