Just the recipe, please. Spill ingredients on this.

We’ve been making a fair number of pizzas lately. Chimp’s local holy-grail pizzeria closed last fall, leaving a big round hole in his life. I like white pizza, and wanted a sauce with real roasted garlic oomph and strong cheese flavor. In this recipe, I roast an entire pound of garlic, and combine it with Parmigiano-Reggiano and heavy cream. There’s no starch in it, and no standing over the stove.

A pizza topped with roasted garlic white pizza sauce, fresh mozzarella, red peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, and red onions is photographed from a low angle lying on a light-colored wood cutting board. A slice has been moved back from the pie so that the development of small bubbles in the layer of crust under the toppings can be seen.

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Roasted Garlic White Pizza Sauce [Gluten-Free][No stovetop]

Instead of beginning with thin ingredients and thickening them, this starts from the other direction and arrives at a spreadable paste. I've called this a white pizza sauce, but there aren't many savory foodstuffs this combination of garlic, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and cream won't glorify.

Prep Time35

Cook Time1

Course: Sauces

Keyword: gluten-free, pizza

Servings: pizzas

Calories: 431kcal

Equipment

food processor or blender
fine food processor shredding disc or cheese grater

Ingredients

For the roasted garlic

470 g garlic bulbs
13 g olive oil
water

To complete the sauce

250 g Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
230 g heavy cream
20 g salt

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

To make the roasted garlic

Preheat the oven to 450 F.
Remove most of the outer layer of papery skin covering the bulbs of garlic. Check the root end of the garlic for embedded dirt. If the roots are dirty, scrub them under running water with a vegetable brush.
Setting each bulb of garlic on its side in succession, carefully cut enough of the top off to expose some of the top surface of most of the cloves.
Fit the bulbs of garlic, cut side up, into a 9"x5" loaf pan or other oven-safe vessel that will hold them snugly.
Add enough water to the garlic to barely cover the bottom of the vessel. Don't overfill; a little will help them cook evenly throughout as the water boils away, but too much will cause them to continue to steam rather than roast.
Drizzle the olive oil over the bulbs. Cover with a lid or foil tightly crimped to the vessel.
Place in the preheated oven and roast for one hour, until soft and slightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Drain if necessary.
Peel the cooled garlic by pulling the skin away from the cloves or separating each clove from the bulb and squeezing the roasted garlic out of it. There should be about 280 g or one cup by volume.

To make the sauce in a food processor

Carefully set up the food processor with the fine shredding disc. Shred the cheese. Turn the cheese into a large bowl and set aside.
Remove the shredding disc and carefully replace it with the knife blade.
Add the cheese back to the food processor. Pour the cream over the cheese. Add the salt.
Turn on the food processor and run until the sauce is just uniform. The cream will turn to butter if run too long, so don't walk away from it.

To make the sauce in a blender

Grate the cheese using the fine holes of a cheese grater.
Peel the cooled garlic by pulling the skin away from the cloves or separating each clove from the bulb and squeezing the roasted garlic out of it. Add to the blender.
Add the grated cheese to the blender. Pour the cream over the cheese. Add the salt.
Turn on the blender and run until the sauce is just uniform, scraping down if necessary. The cream will turn to butter if run too long, so don't walk away from it.

Notes

Usage note: Though this is thick, don't overload a pizza with it - it's strongly-flavored so not a lot is needed, but it still does contain liquid, too much of which is not pizza's friend.

Where are the herbs? I've not included herbs in the recipe, as I think they lose their punch as the sauce is stored. Better to sprinkle them liberally over the surface of the pie before or after baking - your preference.

Yield: This recipe makes three cups - enough for six large pizzas - and freezes well. Thaw it completely in the fridge, then stir to mix in any liquid if necessary.

Nutrition note: The nutrition calculation is for one-half cup of the sauce, which will cover a large pizza. Beyond that, well, I figure how much of a large pizza you eat is your business.

Nutrition