The Pizza That Almost Wasn’t

As with most things, Joni sang it best: Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone?

On Friday night, our beloved old oven died! We had made some delicious red sauce (this week’s recipe, below), preheated the oven and our pizza stone, rolled out our dough, torn our basil, stretched our burrata, drooled down our chins at the sight of it all, and then… no blast of heat when we opened the oven to slide in the pizza!

Quite the let-down.

Our oven is, or maybe was, an old white beauty/beast with multiple broilers, a griddle in between the burners, and a flap that stretches out to cover the burners if not in use (so, never). It’s also almost identical to Chandler and Joey’s.

In short, it’s pretty amazing. It deserves a moment of silence.

Since then we’ve wanted nothing but PIZZA, and all other food that requires an oven to prepare. (But of course!) We wrapped up that first pizza and stuck it in the freezer—we’ll let you know how that little experiment turns out soon enough—but we still had ingredients for a second pizza. We tried to think of things we could make without an oven. We even tried takeout. But by Sunday, after a day exploring the Capay Valley for its 100th annual Almond Festival (inspired by these beautiful photos), we could take it no longer: we had to try mini pizzas, on our darling mini pizza stones, in the toaster oven. They were kind of cute, though not nearly as nice as our full-sized pizzas in the past.

As you’ll notice, the cheese cooked much too quickly, and the dough cooked much too slowly. But the rich and sweet flavor of this super-simple sauce shined (shone?) through despite it all. We love the flavor of San Marzano tomatoes so much that we keep our other toppings simple: just burrata and fresh basil, plus a brushing of olive oil on the crust and a sprinkle of sea salt after baking.

Here are a few more photos from our sunny, windy day in and around the almond festival, if you’d like to see.

Simple Pizza Sauce (you can print this recipe here)

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and very roughly chopped
• 12 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
• 1 28-ounce can crushed San Marzano tomatoes (or chop yourself)
• 2 tablespoons (30 grams) balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons (30 grams) red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons (30 grams) red wine
• Salt, to taste (optional)

Directions

In a large pot, heat oil over low heat. Sauté garlic for one minute. Then add basil and cook for about thirty seconds more. Pour in tomatoes, their liquid, vinegar, and wine. Cook over low heat, covered with the lid ajar, for two hours or more, stir occasionally. Add salt if necessary.

Notes

The texture of the crushed San Marzano tomatoes is wonderful, but you can also buy them canned whole. We think it’s most important to get San Marzano tomatoes, so buy them in any form available, then skin and chop them if necessary. Use all their liquid.

This might seem like a lot of vinegar to add, but it adds a wonderful flavor and helps break down the sugars in the tomato. It also deepens the color.

Leftover sauce saves in the fridge for up to a week, and tastes great on pasta, too.