A Tomato Sauce Sandwich Pizza

Written By Brad English

My Left-overs journey continues with my Cheese Steak Sandwich theme:  I had also grilled up some sausages the previous night, which were sitting in the same container with my Tri-Tip.  Now, nobody would want the sausage to feel left out, would they?  Would you? 

As I mentioned, I was using a can of Simply Red Tomatoes that I was given by Rob DiNapoli.  My first pizza, a Tri-Tip based Cheese Steak Pizza, turned out great.  The tomato sauce was a delicious foundation to this famous pizza sandwich combination.  The tomatoes were bright and tasty and, dare I say, fresh tasting even though they came out of a can.  I recently came upon my first pizzeria

where that made their tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes every day.  I will be telling you all about this place soon enough, but it was the first place I had come across that did this.  Quality canned tomatoes are used by so many pizzeria because they are good, or even great, and also consistent.  And, in this case, they were all of the above.  Delicious. 

I wanted to use the grilled sausage and try another version of this concept, basically using the same ingredients as before, but what could I do differently?

What about adding the tomatoes on top after the bake?  I am a huge fan of this concept.

If you have been reading my pizza recipe rantings, you’ll have seen quite a few examples of this.  The cool ingredient layer, on top of a hot pizza, adds another taste sensation and even a new flavor profile to the experience.  A cool, or room temperature sauce just tastes different than a cooked sauce.  This isn’t to say that one way is better than the other.  It is just different.  It is another way to extract flavors in a different way and experience something in a unique way.

My final thought was to make this pizza a little more about the tomato sauce.  A tomato sauce sandwich pizza.  Stay with me.  Let’s go make the pizza.

A Tomato Sauce Sandwich Pizza

Peter’s Classic Dough *Recipe:  Peter’s Classic Dough

Simply Red Tomatoes turned into Peter’s Crushed Tomato Sauce
*Any quality canned tomato will work.  *Crushed Tomato Sauce Recipe

Grated Mozzarella
Grated Provolone
Sliced and Sauteed Onions and Yellow Peppers
Sliced left over Grilled Sausage   

Simply Red Tomatoes AGAIN turned into Peter’s Crushed Tomato Sauce
Chopped Mom’s Soy Pickled Jalapeños *See recipe in our Instructional Section

Peter’s Crushed Tomato Sauce is a perfect pizza sauce. Once you make it a few times following his recipe, you can start to do it on your own, just adding what feels right.  This is so simple and tastes so fresh I really don’t see any reason to do anything else when I’m using a tomato sauce.  When I first tried it after reading Peter’s book, “American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza,” I literally thought, “This is it! This is the perfect pizza sauce.”  Now I know perfect is not possible, but this may be an exception.

 

The Build:

Build the pizza by placing the Crushed Tomato Sauce on the dough.

Add the mixture of Grated Mozzerella and Provolone
*I used about 3/4 Mozzarella and 1/4 Provolone

Add the sliced Grilled Sausages

Add sautéed onions and peppers

Place pizza into a pre-heated (550 Degree) oven on your pizza stone.  If you have it, switch the oven over to Convection Bake. 

Check the pizza in about 7 Minutes.  When it’s done, remove it.

I have to point out the decent charring right out of my home oven!  It makes a a visual and flavorful difference to the finished pizza.

Here’s where the Tomato Sauce Sandwich comes in.  I placed another layer of the cool/room temperature Tomato Sauce on top of the hot pie.  Looks good! 

Add the chopped Jalapeños to your taste. 

Add a little grated Parmessan Cheese over the top if you like.

Cut and dig in quickly.  You’ll want to experience this first slice as the top layer of tomato sauce is still relatively cool.  It’s a wonderful experience biting into it as you feel the warm dough on your tongue and the cool bright tomatoes on the roof of your mouth.  You get the best of both worlds, a warm cooked tomato sauce and a fresh cool tomato sauce in one bite.  It is a truly unique experience.  But, it’s going to change as the heat from the pizza warms up that top layer.  So, enjoy the first slice for what it is. 

 

Thinking back now, I suppose it would be interesting to serve a piping hot pizza with a side of cool sauce to place on each bite, or slice as you eat the whole pie?  Hmmm….

Don’t let anyone claim that this new trend didn’t start here!

 

Enjoy!

 

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