Simple tomato sauce

Here is another great recipe from my favorite blog Sweet Paul. I made this simple tomato sauce the other day and it was really good. Sometimes when I make my own I get a little to complicated with it. Simple is better! This has only a few ingredients (most of which you might have on hand already) and tastes so fresh. I'm going to make this my new standby.

{Super cute photo from here. }

The thing that's so great about this sauce is that you could make a double batch and freeze some for a rainy (or lazy) day. When I made it the other day I added spicy Italian sausage and spooned it over pasta. Tonight I'm using the leftovers as pizza sauce (yup...doing the BBQ pizza thing again). The possibilities are endless.



Serves 4

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 28-ounce can good quality crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 cup fresh basil, chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups water


Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add onions and garlic, cook until soft.
Add the crushed tomatoes with their liquid.
Add brown sugar.
Add the basil.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add the water.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until sauce has reduced and thickened. This takes 20 min.

BBQ pizza: It's easy!!

I have heard about BBQ pizza but never tried it at home. Last week I saw that one of my favorite bloggers Sweet Paul posted a recipe and video about it so I decided to get off my butt and give it a go.

I like making pizza at home but usually go the easy route by buying dough at Trader Joe's. I don't know why I've been so lazy!!! Making dough at home is sooooo simple plus it tastes much much better then store bought.

Recipe:

Makes 2 pizzas
2 teaspoons dry yeast
1 1/3 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/2 cups plain flour

Mix yeast and water in a bowl. Leave for 5 minutes and add honey, salt, oil and flour. Mix until you have a smooth dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for at least 1 hour. Get your grill going, remember it needs to be really hot!

Here is my dough after it has been left to sit for about 1 hour .

Divide your dough in two and place it on well greased parchment paper.

Press it out using your fingers and coat it with a layer of olive oil (coating with olive oil is an important step. It prevents dough from sticking to your hands, parchment and the grill)


Get your toppings all ready- I used prosciutto, goat cheese, pesto, heirloom tomato and basil. You can use anything you want. Have fun with it!

Once your grill is nice and hot flip the paper upside down on grill and slowly remove the paper. Let the pizza cook for 3 minutes.


Flip dough over, place toppings on and let grill for another 3 min or so. Mine got a little charred but that's OK. It added to the flavor. Once the dough seemed cooked I turned the heat off to allow cheese to melt. Remove from grill, cut and serve. YUM!

I really loved this pizza and had a good time making it.

Thanks to Sweet Paul for the great recipe. If you don't follow his blog, you should!! Hes a food stylist, crafter and cook. He has some really amazing projects, recipes and drool worthy food photography. If he lived in San Francisco I might force him to be my friend. Hes so crafty!!