Tasty Tuesday - Pizza/Pasta Sauce

This is our current favorite pizza sauce & my absolute go-to pasta sauce for quick and easy.

When I make a batch, I can divide it up and freeze it, and make enough for three pizzas. Unless we start using it for dipping... and then it only makes about two pizzas.

It's also wonderful, because now I keep all the ingredients on-hand and you just can't beat it for simplicity. It doesn't sound like much, but trust me, once you try it, you won't want to go back!!

The orginal recipe is from 101 Cookbooks, here's my version - it's only slightly tweaked.

Five Minute Tomato Sauce



1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic, finely chopped
1 (28 oz.) can crushed red tomatoes (try to get ones without anything added to them if you can, if they have salt added, go easy on the sea salt)
zest of one lemon


Combine the olive oil, red pepper flakes, sea salt, and garlic in a cold saucepan. Stir while you heat the saucepan over medium-high heat, until it begins to sizzle and smell good. You just want to infuse the oil, but don’t brown the garlic.


Stir in the tomatoes and heat to a gentle simmer. Add the lemon zest, stir to combine.


Taste.

If it’s a little bitter, add about 1 teaspoon of sugar or adjust the salt. Sometimes I also add some fresh basil or a little Italian seasoning if I’m feeling like it needs it. Just don’t leave out the lemon – it makes this sauce!