San Marzano Tomato Sauce
My brother in law has been obsessed with creating The Perfect Pizza for a decade. I think in his thirties he had a Margherita that was so delicious it rocked him to his very core. Since then the bubbly crust, the crispy edges, the chewy centre and perfectly-restrained-yet-flavour-packed collection of toppings have lingered perpetually around the edges of his mind, taunting him, plaguing him!
And although these doughy Elysian visions might have tormented him for years his obsession has actually worked out very nicely for the rest of the family.
Because of him, every time I make pizzas now I spread polenta on the pizza paddle before laying the pizza base on top. The polenta acts like little ball bearings that help roll the base off the paddle onto the pizza stone. And as it cooks it adds this crispy deliciousness to the base of the pizza. But he didn’t stop at polenta. He now has a three day pizza dough fermentation method using a sourdough base he made himself. He built his own pizza oven and, most importantly for today’s (actually non-pizza-related) recipe, he has grown his own San Marzano tomatoes from seed, harvested them, and boiled them down into the tomato pizza base.
San Marzano tomatoes are similar to Roma tomatoes and are apparently the tomatoes to use if you want to achieve the perfect pizza. As a matter of fact, now that I’ve cooked with them, I can confirm that they will help you achieve the perfect anything. They are packed with flavour and cook down like a dream, giving you an almost creamy, totally umami-filled tomato sauce. If you can find seeds, I highly recommend growing a few of these yourself, but ultimately I think any variety of homegrown or farmers’ market tomatoes would do. Homegrown tomatoes are almost always filled with flavour that you just don’t get with store bought tomatoes. So, if you’re lucky enough to have a summer glut of tomatoes on your hands, follow this simple recipe to make a big batch that you can freeze for months, and use as a base for lasagnes, cannelloni, pizzas and anything else that you fancy!
San Marzano Tomato Sauce (basic recipe)
Makes about 4 cups
Ingredients
4 kgs San Marzano tomatoes (or any other variety of especially flavoursome/homegrown/organic/farmers’-market-sourced tomatoes)
1/4 cups olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
8 cloves of garlic, crushed and roughly chopped
A handful of fresh basil (if using as a simple pasta sauce, throw this on top of your dish before serving)
Method
Put all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook on low heat until the tomatoes have released all their liquid, the flesh has softened and melted into this delicious, smooth sauce.
Cook gently until the sauce has thickened and lost a lot of its liquid. This might take up to an hour or two. Keep stirring to make sure the sauce doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Theoretically you could peel the tomatoes first, or fish the skins out of the sauce, but tbh I’m not fussed by the peels, they add character (and I’m too lazy to remove them). If you are similarly lazy, feel free to do it my way!
Once the sauce has thickened, transfer into Tupperware containers. The sauce can be stored in the freezer for 2-3 months or will keep in the fridge for at least a few days. This recipe should make about 4 cups which can then be used as a base for all sorts of delicious recipes, like this one!
