Good sauce is essential to great pizza, and homemade pizza sauce is almost as easy as opening a jar. Here are recipes for both red and white sauce, since some toppings do better on a mild, creamy base. I like to top the white sauce with artichokes, roasted garlic, capers and Romano cheese, and you can't beat the tangy marinara with goat cheese, fresh tomato and basil.

It's still National Pizza Month, so try a batch of Peter Reinhart's superb slow rise pizza dough, whip up some sauce and have a homemade pizza party!

White Parsley Pizza Sauce
makes 3/4 cup, enough for 3 10" pizzas

1/2 cup whole milk ricotta
1/4 cup cream or half and half
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup Italian parsley, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Whisk the ricotta and cream together until blended. Fry the minced garlic in a little olive oil until golden, then add the parsley and cook just until wilted and soft. Add to ricotta and season with salt and pepper.

Classic Red Pizza Sauce
makes about 5 cups

10 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 28 ounce can tomato puree
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
3 tablespoons fresh basil, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

Lightly sauté the minced garlic in olive oil over medium heat until golden. Add the tomato paste and fry with the garlic. Add to the rest of the ingredients and blend.

This keeps up to a week in the fridge and much longer frozen. Freeze in individual bags, then defrost overnight, snip off a corner and squeeze out the sauce.