Pizza Sauce #1 Tomato Passata
Ingredients
400gms whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
a few pinches of dried oregano
2 or 3 leaves of fresh Italian basil, torn into small pieces
fresh garlic clove
Method
Pour the can of tomatoes into a bowl & crush with your hands, or cut with kitchen shears.
Add the rest of the ingredients & mix well. Taste for salt & season as required, be gentle with the seasoning, I don’t believe it is actually necessary
“My preference is not to include any salt into a pizza sauce; there are so many ingredients, particularly cured products, anchovies, & parmesan cheese are perfect examples that contain a high percentage of salt as it is & to include additional to the sauce may just push the balance where it may be unpalatable. Season the pizza after cooking but respecting the toppings used”.
Pizza Sauce #2 Bianca
Ingredients
2 only Fresh Mozzarella Balls
200mls Béchamel sauce or velouté
100mls culinary cream, Crème Fraîche or sour cream.
Method:
Finely dice the mozzarella ball’s & add to the Béchamel with the cream of your choice, combine well.
Please do not limit yourself to mozzarella, consider ricotta, burrata or even a combination of two different styles of cheese.
Importantly, a gentle reduction of the sauce will develop flavour & complexity to the quality of your pizza. This reduction will also eliminate or at least diminish the possibility of saturating the dough with excess moisture as you cook the pizza dough.
As the Béchamel or velouté, whichever your preference is thickened with a roux, ensure that all the starch is cooked out as this will prevent the possibility of saturating the dough with excess moisture.
Flavour the pizza with the ingredient you add, there is no need to add additional flavour to the Bianca sauce, let it shine on its own accord.
Ingredients
1 litre homemade chicken or vegetable stock
dried porcini (rehydrated in stock)
90gms butter
300gms cremini, button & field mushrooms, washed, stemmed, & sliced.
100mls culinary cream
2 eggs yolks
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
Kosher salt & freshly ground black peppercorns
Method
In a medium saucepan, bring chicken/vegetable stock to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat & add porcini mushrooms. Let steep until mushrooms are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain mushrooms, reserving stock.
Roughly chop cremini, button & or field mushrooms & dry roast in a moderate oven to extract all the moisture, as this contains no flavour at all. Strain & reserve mushrooms & discard any remaining mushroom liquid.
Wash & dry saucepan. Add butter & cook over medium heat until foaming subsides, add porcini & cremini, button & or field mushrooms & cook, stirring occasionally, until browned.
Add culinary cream & cook until you achieve a natural reduction, stirring constantly. Slowly incorporate reserved stock & bring to a simmer, & cook until sauce has thickened & reduced to approximately 750mls. Remove from heat & temper egg yolks with the sauce prior to adding fully. Stir in chopped thyme & season with salt & pepper to taste. Let cool completely & refrigerate until required.
The below is a simple Chicken Korma recipe, reserves some of the sauce & freeze until required.
The below recipe is very much sauce orientated, it is not meant to be a classic Korma, I use a store bought curry sauce base & slowly reduce with the chicken stock & culinary cream & add the coconut cream after the reduction to capture its intensity.
The spice mix is dry roasted using the oils in the almonds only & added to the sauce for additional flavour whereas the cinnamon sticks are added during the sauce reduction & eventually discarded.
The Korma pizza sauce is just another example of ignoring tradition & thinking outside the box, do not limit your creativity; rather, embrace it & design other left field flavour profiles.
Pizza Sauce #4 – Korma Sauce
I don’t suggest you make a Korma style curry sauce as a pizza base alone; rather, what I do purpose is that when you do make a curry dish, be it korma, vindaloo, rogan josh, tikka masala or butter chicken make excess & reserve 200mls of the sauce, cool, puree & strain discarding any solids & freeze & you have foundation sauces for future pizza dishes.
Dal’s, be it Masoor or Toor dal are ideal as a foundation sauces as pizza sauces, follow to same method above & freeze for future use.
Ingredients:
300g chicken thigh fillets
2 tbsp ghee
300ml curry sauce base
200mks chicken stock
425mls coconut cream
100mls culinary cream
1 tbsp brown sugar
Spice Mix
2 only cinnamon sticks
3 green cardamom pods, crushed
1 tsp each of crushed garlic & ginger
3 tbsp roasted almond flakes
1½ tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
Melt the ghee in a Dutch oven over medium heat & add the chicken thigh fillets to seal each side. Cook for approximately 2 minutes on each side or until you reach a surface temperature of 145°C, remove from heat & reserve.
Combine curry sauce base & chicken stock in the Dutch oven & deglaze, bring to a slow simmer, add the cinnamon sticks & continue to cook on a slow simmer to reduce sauce by a third.
Dry roast almond flakes in a frypan on a slow heat, you want a little colour but immediately remove from heat as soon a they start to colour. Let cool & ground to produce a fine paste.
Dry roast remaining spice mix until aromatic, add this & the ground almond paste to your simmer sauce & continue to reduce until the sauce naps the back of a spoon. Add the culinary cream & a third of the coconut cream & continue to reduce.
Incorporate the remaining coconut cream but you want a sauce that has a strong viscosity & you determine if you believe the sauce has the capacity to take the final addition of the coconut cream. Stir in a little cornflour slurry if necessary but only after you have added the chicken fillets & just before serving the curry as the slurry will break down if prolonged heat is applied.
Add the chicken thigh fillets to the sauce & cook for a further 10 minutes to infuse flavours.
Consider the below when constructing a pizza; if you can stimulate all 5 senses, touch, sight, hearing, smell & taste; you will have achieved what all chefs strive to master.
Know your recipe: plan & design your pizza prior to construction, prepare your “mise en plus” & establish a workstation. The rest is easy.
Contrast & Colour: we buy with our eyes; if it looks good, the perception is that it is. Contrast is also important, if the ingredients is sweet, consider adding capers or a quick squeeze of lemon to the finished pizza: if it is a sauce orientated pizza, offer a bit of crunch, semolina, rice flour or even a light sprinkle of bread crumbs will work magic.
Bring your Creativity, but keep it simple; apply the principles of the traditional pizza & consider why it gained popularity during the early 1700’s & why it is a staple food today.
Naples, was home to thousands of poor labourers, known as lazzaroni. They couldn’t afford expensive food, & their lifestyle also meant that dishes that could be quickly prepared were ideal. These factors contributed to the popularization of pizza in this & other regions of Italy during this period.
Pizza at that time was a simple flatbread with traditional garnishes that are still used today: cheese, garlic, tomato, & anchovies to name a few. It was a dish created out of necessity as the ingredient mentioned were in abundance.
However, I do not purpose you restrict your creative nature by any means, but I do strongly suggest you limit the amount of garnishing to 3 components only. Any more & your could be confusing your guests, their taste buds & creating a nothing more than a confusing mess.
Garnishing: how you present the pizza is so important; refer above, our perceptions are influenced by appearance. The classic Margherita pizza for example consists of 3 ingredients only, tomato, fresh basil & mozzarella, but this is the most popular pizza throughout the world.
Pizza Sauce #5 - Ragú Napoletano
Method
900gms pork spare ribs, cut into 2 chunks
900gms boneless beef chuck, cut into 2 chunks
900gms boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2 chunks
100mls extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 large Spanish onion, finely chopped
170gms tomato paste
400mls dry red wine
850gms whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
parmesan rind, if available
1 bunch fresh basil, divided
450gms mild Italian sausage, in the casings
8 to 10 servings fresh or dried pasta
grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for serving
Ingredients:
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position & preheat oven to 150°C. Season ribs with salt & pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons (30ml) olive oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat until shimmering. Add ribs & cook until well browned. Turn & cook the other side is well browned. Remove from heat & set aside. Repeat with beef chuck & pork shoulder & reserve.
Add onions to Dutch oven & cook, stirring frequently until fragrant & golden brown. Add tomato paste, & cook while stirring, until paste begins to caramelize. Add wine & cook until mixture is very thick. Add tomatoes, Parmesan rind (if using), & ¾ of basil. Return ribs, beef chuck, & pork shoulder to pot & bring to a simmer.
Cover with lid slightly ajar & place in the oven. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rib bones can be easily pulled from the meat, about 3 hours. Add sausages & continue cooking for 30 minutes. Remove from oven & reduce oven temperature to 93°C.
Transfer pork ribs, beef chuck, pork shoulder, & sausages to a bowl, discard bones, & let stand until cool enough to handle. Discard basil sprigs from sauce. Arrange meat on a platter, pour 1/2 cup (118ml) tomato sauce over meat, cover with aluminium foil, & keep warm in oven while sauce reduces.
Bring the tomato sauce in the Dutch oven to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer & cook while stirring constantly, until sauce thickens, & develops a deep red colour; reduced to 1 litre to concentrate the flavours. Stir in remaining olive oil & season with salt & pepper.