Kicky Maple Pizza Sauce

I am on a mission to perfect my at home pizza.  This past weekend, I focused on sauce.  When I thought about it, I found it tricky to pinpoint what I really like about a good pizza sauce (again, because I am a pizza fanatic and can find something good about most pies I see).  On Saturday though, I felt like having a wee bit of sweet in my sauce, probably because of the dreary rain.  I also wanted a bit of heat though, and with this sauce I got a pretty good hint of both.

My Kicky Maple Pizza Sauce

1/2 medium-sized onion, minced fine
4 cloves garlic, minced fine
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp tomato paste
28 oz can of San Marzano tomatoes, pureed (or a good quality canned tomato of your choice, but the Italian tomatoes are so much sweeter :)).
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp fennel seed (I crush with back of knife)
1 tsp crushed red chili flakes
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp Nova Scotia maple syrup

Puree tomatoes in blender (do not drain) and set aside.  Saute onions in olive oil until translucent, add garlic and spices and let cook for a minute or two.  Add tomato paste and cook for another minute.  Add maple syrup, salt and tomatoes and simmer uncovered for about 40 minutes.  Let cool before using on pizza.

Makes enough for 2 large pizzas (plus a bit).

I hope you like!