you do not need to buy expensive pizza or pasta sauce….

When I am not eating BBQ, I am looking for the perfect slice of pizza. My favorite is piping hot pizza cooked over the red hot charcoal of my Big Green Egg. You cannot beat that flame kissed char on the chewy crust and the cheese bubbling with goodness . I start with a good dough. Pillsbury has some nice pre-made pizza doughs. We just tried Harris Teeter’s fresh dough from their pizza shop and it was phenomenal. But just like with BBQ, the sauce is boss.

Harris Teeter had their house brand Parmesan and Romano cheese pasta sauce on sale for $1.25 each. SOLD! The key to a good pizza or pasta sauce is to let it simmer. The longer it simmers the more the tomatoes caramelize and the more bold the flavor. Here is how to jazz it up any pizza or pasta sauce:

• Dump the entire bottle of pasta sauce into a saucepan and cook over medium high heat

• Pour some wine (start with 1/2 cup) into the empty sauce bottle and put the lid on. Shake the bottle so the wine cleans the remaining sauce from the bottle. Pour wine into sauce

• Crush two cloves of garlic into the sauce

• Pour 1/2 cup of olive oil into the sauce

  Hint: if they wine did not take all the sauce out of the bottle. Use the olive oil to get the rest. If that does not work, try more wine. More wine always helps!

• If you have some extra parmesan cheese, you can add it to the sauce too. Just do not go overboard!

• Stir the sauce regularly and let it get bubbly, then lower the heat and let it simmer

  Let the sauce simmer for at least 15 minutes before you start cooking the rest of your meal. You will notice the sauce will thicken up and turn darker. That’s when the magic happens!

• If you are making a grilled pizza, now is the time to get the charcoal going. I use Rockwood Charcoal. It is the best around. Get the temperature of your grill to 800 degrees, then start to make your pizza.

• Leave a comment and let me know how yours turned out!