... on The Best Pizza Ever!

I have had a very useful visitor to the vegie garden - a rogue cherry tomato. I didn't plant him - he just came up by himself. I gave him a stake and he grew big and robust and started popping out what seemed like tonnes of tasty cherry tomatoes.

What to do with such a wonderful free glut of tomatoes? Pizza sauce, of course!

I think the secret to a really good rich pizza sauce is to roast your onion, garlic and tomatoes together in a pan with a coating of olive oil, because it just bring out all the flavours in the most delicious way. Whiz it all up in a food processor with salt, pepper and any herbs you care to add. I use oregano and basil, because I happen to have them in the herb garden at the moment. I also prefer red onion over brown or white, but that's just me. I like purple food.

In one batch I would use, say, two (or three small) red onions (peeled and quartered) to one colander of washed cherry toms, with peeled garlic cloves to taste (I use about ten, and you don't have to chop them because you're going to whiz them later), roasted with a decent whack of olive oil in a heavy pan at 180 degrees centigrade for about 30-40 minutes. 

When it's all cooled down a bit, I put it in a food processor with about a teaspoon of Maldon sea salt (that sounds like a lot - but Maldon in particular is less 'salty' than others and the flakes are really large - so less fit when measured), some pepper, herbs and if I happen to have a bottle open, a slug of red wine. Whiz as much as you fancy - the more you whiz the smoother the sauce.

This would make enough for about 6 regular-sized pizzas. I divide it up into small containers and freeze them so I have sauce on hand for whenever pizza is required - quite regularly!

The rest - take your pizza base of choice (I use sourdough leftovers from when I've made bread - it gets partially cooked before the sauce goes on. This makes sure that it doesn't go soggy) and spread it evenly with your lovely new pizza sauce.

Add toppings. For this one I used kalamata olives and chopped silverbeet, and then lots of pizza cheese (which is a ready-grated mix of mozzarella, parmesan and cheddar).

This all goes in a very hot oven (the hottest it will go - on ours the maximum is 200 degrees centigrade) until it's all melty and brown on top. Check it after ten minutes, and watch it - it seems like there's only a few minutes between pizza perfection and charred cheese!

Consume immediately, with gusto. If you have any of that bottle of red left, this would be the perfect thing to go with it.

Thank you little rogue cherry tomato! Please visit us again!