Pizza Sauce from Scratch

 I don't spend a lot of time thinking about making pizza sauce.  I usually prefer an olive oil base and leave it at that.  But yesterday I was looking at some blog that had a link to some other blog that eventually led me to Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow's site, and there was a recipe for making pizza and sauce from scratch.  Now, of course she was making the pizza in her hand made brick oven in her back yard.  I am not so lucky, so I made my pizza in my fabulous cast iron skillet.

I didn't follow her dough recipe, but I did make her sauce.  It intrigued me because it had a carrot in it.  I assumed it was to make it sweeter without adding sugar.

Saute in olive oil: 1 small onion and 1 carrot, both diced for about 8 minutes.  Add 1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes (I used Italian Roma with basil, but I think the Muir Glen roasted tomato would be good too!)  Add 1 teaspoon coarse salt and bring to a boil.  Reduce to simmer and cook for 40 minutes.  Blend with immersion blender.

I thought the sauce came out a tad too sweet.  I might just put half a carrot in next time and throw in a chipotle in adobo sauce to add a little more zest.  But I bet the sauce goes over well with kids! 

I only used the sauce on one of my two skillet pizzas so I have a lot left over.  I might try serving it over pasta tonight.

You can find Gwyneth's original posting along with her pizza dough recipe on her Goop Newsletter.