FRESH ROMA TOMATO PIZZA SAUCE

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a pizza freak! I could eat pizza every day! I have never met a pizza I didn't like! So, in my efforts to eat healthier, I began to make my own pizzas at home. By make my own, I mean, I was making my own dough. I still bought sauce from the store. Oh, sure, I buy organic pizza sauce, but I kept thinking I should be able to make my own! So, about a week ago, I started reading article after article about making pizza sauce.  I made a few mental notes about ratios, the best kind of tomatoes to use, etc., so that when I started, I would at least have some base knowledge.
Yesterday, a stop at Lidl grocery store, one of my favorites, proved to be my incentive, when I found a great price on beautiful fresh Romas!

FRESH ROMA TOMATO PIZZA SAUCE

• 2 pounds fresh Roma tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• ½ large onion, chopped
• ¼ small red bell pepper, chopped
• Sprinkle of salt
• 2 tbsp. garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• ¼  teaspoon dried thyme
• ¼  teaspoon dried oregano
• ¾ teaspoons salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 tbsp organic sugar
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

Heat a large skillet on med-high with 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Sauté chopped onion and pepper  with a sprinkle of salt until soft.  Add the garlic and continue to sauté until cooked through. Meanwhile, halve or quarter the Roma tomatoes and toss into a super blender or food processor. Blend until completely smooth. Spoon the cooked onion and pepper mixture into the blender and blend until fully incorporated. Pour the tomato mixture back into the large skillet and heat on med-high again, stirring constantly. Add the basil, thyme, oregano, salt, pepper, sugar, and tomato paste. Bring to low boil, cook for several minutes, and then lower heat and simmer for a half-hour or so, until most of the water is gone, and you are left with a nice thick sauce.

I cooled the sauce and used small jars to measure out pints, then put the pints into freezer bags and froze flat on a tray, so as to be able to stack them in the freezer.

Note: You may want to play with and adjust some of the spices a bit to taste. I like a sweeter sauce, so I used a bit of sugar. I don’t like thyme very much, so I started with only a small amount. This sauce turned out pretty good, although I haven’t made a pizza with it yet. I did, however, have a dab of my favorite store-bought brand in the fridge, and I used that as my reference!