I’ve gotten in the habit of making my own pizza dough, and in my quest to make my own pizza from scratch, I went ahead and figured out a nice pizza sauce recipe. I’m lazy, so I also lighten up on the brown sugar and use it for spaghetti sauce when I’m feeling hungry.

I always advise that you read through the recipe before you dive in. If you’re new to these spices, give them each a taste before you stick them in. I tried to organize the spices in a fashion that would allow you to experience the addition of different types of flavors – first the spices, then the sweets, then the tangy – and see what they do to a fairly common flavor, tomato.

I hope you like it!

• 6oz (or 3/4cup) of Tomato Paste
• 6oz (or 3/4cup) of water
• 3tbsp parmesan
• 1tsp minced garlic
• 1tbsp brown sugar (like it sweet? add in more brown sugar teaspoon by teaspoon!)
• 1tsp minced onion
• 1/4tsp coriander
• 1/4tsp basil
• 1/4tsp black pepper
• pinch of red pepper flakes (and I do mean pinch)
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• pinch of sea salt

Mix the tomato paste in with the water, then add your parmesan and garlic. Next, go for your onion, coriander, basil and black pepper. At this point, taste your sauce and see how it’s coming along. If it’s a little too earthy, keep that in mind. Add a tablespoon of brown sugar. If you’d like it sweeter, add your brown sugar in a teaspoon at a time. At this point, adding in a pinch of sea salt should make things much brighter flavor-wise… at least, it does for me. I add a pinch (not a shake, but a PINCH) of cayenne pepper and a pinch (shoot, maybe even a half pinch!) of crushed red pepper flakes last, because sometimes I may not even feel like using it at all.

I usually pour my sauce inside of a cleaned out jar, and store it in the fridge. I can enjoy the fact that my entire jar is probably no more than 300 calories altogether (90cals for the tomato paste, 60 cals for the parmesan cheese, maybe 60 cals for the brown sugar, no more than 50 cals for those spices?) and not feel guilty about using it.

Happy eating!