Pizza Sauce

I am feeling blue for no reason. I guess it's normal in pregnancy. I am feeling irritated, angry, revengeful and I tell myself so much negativity will kill me. I hate seeing my hubby leave for office and returning late. With my mom in law visiting us I get to spend very little time with him and it so happens that I moved from Chennai to Bangalore for good, 3  months back ( after 3.5 years) and bammm !! I am pregnant, my mom in law visits us and my hubby has a project deadline making him work unearthly hours. I think of cooking as a respite but my mom in law finds this hobby of mine quite confusing. She cooks bare essentials and sticks to a guide book. She constantly asks me what use blogging is to me and do people respond to posts? I guess they belong to a generation who never experimented with new stuff and stuck to budgetary cooking. It amazes her that there are various was to cooking the same dish. One month with us she has learned not to doubt my instincts when it comes to cooking but she still corners me with millions of  doubts as I browse recipes, draft a post or experiment in the kitchen. This makes me anxious these days when she looms around in the kitchen. I have even started baking early morning and afternoon when she sleeps so that I can be left alone. The poor soul seems oblivious to my plight. She is actually watching me from her bed right now :) People say pregnancy brings you closer to your mom. I miss my mom, she is deaf so it's difficult talking to her over the phone but every conversation we have, she asks me for new recipes and it amazes me how much she wants to learn and update herself at this age. And how different the two moms I know are ? I was thoroughly frustrated today for no reason and did not find many ingredients I wanted to make what I had in mind ( a magic cake, a croquembouche). All I could find was few tomatoes and so I decided to make some pizza sauce. Any given time three sauces you will always find in my refrigerator would be a mayonnaise, pizza sauce and basil pesto sauce ( all home made). I love using this pizza sauce for pastas too so it's often stored for weeks in my refrigerator. With my mom in law's arrival pizzas and pastas have taken a back seat but I guess making the sauce is a good omen. It makes me believe I will get back to baking very soon.

Ingredients for Pizza Sauce

Tomatoes- 1/2 kg
Onion- 1 large one
Garlic- 3-6 pods
Carrots grated- 2
Sweet basil- 1 tsp
Paprika- 1 tsp
Oregano- 2 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Pepper- a dash
Olive oil- 4 tbsp

Directions

Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water with a pinch of salt. Once blanched let the tomatoes cool and peel of  the skin. Chop the tomatoes into small pieces.

In a pan, heat the olive oil and add the garlic.Saute for few minutes and add the tomatoes. Some prefer deseeding the tomatoes but I don't. After few minutes the tomatoes soften. Now add the grated carrots and salt and mix them up. You can now add the spices- paprika, sweet basil, oregano and pepper. Ideally sweet basil isn't required but I am addicted to this spice. Let the sauce simmer for ten minutes it would have released the water content from the tomatoes lending the sauce the required water. Store the sauce in an airtight container and refrigerate it.

Normally I make this sauce in small quantity and use it up in two weeks. I haven't thought of adding preservative to store them for a longer periods but tomatoes are quite cheap in Bangalore during the peak season so I am figuring out ways to preserve sauces for long term. Will post if I am successful in this venture. Till then 'godetevi la vostra salsa di pizza' :) .