Glorious pizza sauce

Photo by Aurélien Lemasson-Théobald on Unsplash

This pizza sauce is one I've been toying with for years and here's where it stands now. The key to a good pizza sauce is to deliver some intense flavor in the small amount of sauce that ends up on a pizza. That intensity is best brought about by using tomato paste and I don't care what anybody says.

The other vital ingredient is a small amount of anchovy paste. Don't recoil in horror. Cooking with anchovies or anchovy paste doesn't make things taste like anchovies automatically. Of course there's nothing wrong with the taste of anchovies if you ask me. What anchovies and anchovy paste do in a recipe is add a punch of salty umami flavor that's difficult to identify but obviously not there if you omit the noble fish from this recipe. Don't skimp on anchovies!

Here goes:

Ingredients

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoon butter
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
2 (6 oz) can tomato paste
4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons fennel seed
1 teaspoon anchovy paste

Instructions

1. In a large skillet, melt butter with the oil. Add the onion, celery and garlic and saute until soft and transparent.
2. Add tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir until smooth.
3. Add remaining ingredients and bring to slow simmer.
4. Simmer for 30-60 minutes.

Play with that recipe and make it yours, please. As often as not, I substitute my own canned tomatoes for the tomato sauce in this recipe.