I am currently unemployed. While I’m enjoying all the free time, I have to be careful about how much money I spend, including on groceries. One of the cheapest and tastiest things I’ve been making lately is pizza. I found this wonderful thin-crust pizza recipe at Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn, and concocted this pretty simple, delicious pizza sauce recipe based on my tried and true spaghetti sauce recipe.
The finished product: cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and Morningstar Farms links
Chunky Pizza Sauce
- 1/2 an onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- olive oil
- 1 T red wine vinegar
- 1 24 oz. can whole tomatoes
- 1 t dried parsley
- 1 t dried oregano
- 1 t dried basil
In a saucepan, sauté the onions in olive oil over medium heat until translucent, 5-7 minutes. Next add the garlic and cook for an additional minute. Pour in the vinegar and scrape the bottom of the pan, making sure to loosen any caramelized chunks. Crush each tomato by hand into the pan. Add 1/4 C of the juice from the canned tomatoes. Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and lower heat. Let the sauce simmer for at least 30-45 minutes (the longer the better). Add the spices in the final 5-10 minutes of cooking. Make sure you give the sauce plenty of time to cool before putting it on the dough, otherwise it’ll be soggy.
And here are step-by-step instructions:
After rolling out the dough to your desired thickness, add the sauce.
Next, apply a thin layer of cheese.
Third, add desired toppings.
Finish with a generous sprinkling of cheese. We used mozzarella.
Stick it in a pre-heated, 500° oven and bake for 5-7 minutes. Make sure you check on it, because this thin crust bakes really quickly! Also, the Apartment Therapy recipe makes two 10″ pizzas (roughly). One is enough for two people, so if you aren’t cooking for a crowd I’d recommend freezing the other half. Just stick it in a tupperware container with a little flour sprinkled in the bottom. They freeze really well! Using this same dough recipe, I’ve since made a pesto pizza and cheesesticks with garlic butter, both of which were wonderful.
