Tell me, who doesn’t love pizza?

When we can, we have bonfire get-togethers at my mom and dads house. We have my friends, my brothers friends, family, family friends, anyone who can come.

They are always so much fun. There are always several games of bocce ball, can jam, and a new favorite, ping pong. There are plenty of good drinks to go around as well as good food. For a while, we would do what we call “gourmet mountain pies.” We would make mountain pie combos like veggies with feta, fresh raspberries with sweet cream, and apricot with walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese. Yes, they are as good as they sound.

Lately though, we’ve been going the easy route and ordering a bunch of pizza. The normal favorites are buffalo chicken, Philly cheesesteak and pepperoni, but lately, my brother and his friends have been obsessing over mushroom and onion pizza. I tried it, and really love the combo too!

It’s not often that I crave red sauce on pizza. I love it, I really do, and I would gladly eat red sauce pizza at any time. But it seems that when I’m making pizza I put maybe just some olive oil and garlic as the sauce, or some pesto.

But, I’ve been thinking, and I really wanted to create a super simple red sauce that I could easily make anytime the red sauce craving hits.

This sauce is so simple and also customizable. I put 1 tablespoon of sugar in it to add just a touch of sweetness, but I know that a lot of people in my family like sweet red sauce so I would say just add more sugar! Add things, don’t add things, exactly to your taste. The process is easy and simple but make the flavor just for you.

I know I’ve talked a bit about not having a food processor, but I now have one (thanks mom!). That is what makes this sauce so easy. I don’t think that my particular blender would have worked for this because it doesn’t have high enough power, but if you don’t have a food processor, and feel that your blender would work, you could try that.

Also, I highly suggest the mushroom + onion combo. And I highly suggest cooking your veggies for this pizza in wine. O yes. It is so great. But, for all the non-mushroom lovers, still try the sauce, and still cook your toppings of choice in wine. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. 🙂

Ingredients
This is enough for one pizza
1 prepared pizza crust (I used a pre-made one from market)
1 large onion
2 cups mushrooms
Olive oil
White wine
1 – 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese for topping, if desired
For the sauce:
3 large tomatoes
6 oz. tomato paste
2 large garlic cloves
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 tablespoon dried basil

For the sauce, add the tomatoes, tomato paste and garlic to a food processor. Process on high, until the sauce is smooth, with only very small chunks.

Add the sauce to a pot over medium heat on the stove. Add the brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, salt, oregano and basil and stir and bring to a simmer. Let the sauce cook, over low heat, while you prepare the rest of the pizza.

Preheat the oven to 400*.

Chop the mushrooms and slice the onion. Add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil to a pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and let cook about five minutes, until softened and slightly browned. Add the mushrooms, stir a cook for several more minutes. With the heat still on medium-high, add a good splash of white wine to the veggies. It should simmer and evaporate pretty quickly with the high heat. Add another splash, if desired, and again let it cook away.

Spoon the sauce on the prepared pizza crust. I used about 4 ladle-fulls of sauce, but use as much as you prefer. Top the sauce with cheese. I used about 1-1/4 cup of mozzarella but use as much as you please and your favorite type. Top the pizza with the veggies. I then sprinkled a small amount of grated Parmesan on top of the veggies.

Bake the pizza in the oven for 10-20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and crust is done. My crust was baked and ready to go when I topped it, but got soggy from the sauce so needed 20 minutes to bake. Use your judgement on cooking time depending on your crust.

Enjoy!