Categories: Meals
Ingredients
- 1 cup diced canned tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons sundried tomato paste
- 1 large clove garlic, crushed
- 1 scant teaspoon (1/3 palm full) oregano
- A pinch of sugar and salt
- A few leaves of torn basil, plus a few torn to serve
- 1 pound ball dough from market or your favorite pizza parlor or EZ Pizza Dough, recipe follows
- EVOO, for drizzling, and about 1/4 cup in a cup for brushing
- 1/2 pound hot Italian sausage
- 1 tablespoon cornmeal
- 1/2 tablespoon AP flour
- Salt and pepper
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- About 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- About 1/4 cup grated Pecorino cheese
- 2 tablespoons water
- About 1 tablespoon acacia honey
- 1 scant teaspoon Calabrian chili paste or chili flakes
- Basil leaves
- Fennel and Olive Salad, for serving, optional, recipe follows
- EZ Pizza Dough:
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 package active dry yeast (look for pouches marked "For Pizza")
- 2 tablespoons EVOO, plus some for bowl to rest dough
- 1 tablespoon acacia honey
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3 cups AP flour
- Fennel and Olive Salad:
- 1 small bulb fennel, reserve a handful of fronds
- 1/2 small to medium red onion
- 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 orange
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup oil-cured black olives
- 2 to 3 tablespoons capers
- 4 to 5 cups arugula or baby kale
- EVOO
Directions
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Preheat oven to 525 to 550 degrees F, as high as it goes, with rack at center. Preheat cast-iron skillet, 10 to 12 inches, over medium-high heat. Preheat a second smaller cast-iron or other skillet over medium-high heat for the sausage.
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Gather your ingredients.
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In a food processor, whizz up sauce: tomatoes, paste, garlic, oregano, sugar, salt and a few leaves of basil.
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Stretch dough into an even round that will cover large skillet.
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Drizzle a little EVOO in smaller skillet. Cut sausage from casing, add to pan and lightly brown and crumble. Turn pan off.
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Sprinkle a little cornmeal and flour in larger skillet and press dough into and up sides as much as possible. The pan is hot — reminder. Brush the dough with EVOO and season with a little salt and pepper or red pepper flakes. Top the dough with the sauce and sausage, scatter the cheeses over the sausage and place in oven.
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To the sausage skillet, add a little water, honey and chili paste and stir to combine (reheat your pan if it’s not warm enough to heat the honey).
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Bake the pizza 15 minutes to deep golden brown and bubbly. Drizzle or brush the pizza with the chili honey mixture and top with torn basil.
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EZ Pizza Dough:
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To a mixer with dough hook attached, add warm water and yeast and let the yeast bloom and foam, 5 minutes.
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Add EVOO, honey and salt and turn on mixer. Add the flour gradually to form dough. Transfer to a bowl drizzled with a little EVOO and cover; let stand 1 hour.
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Cut dough in half; wrap half the dough and freeze for later use.
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Fennel and Olive Salad:
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Using a mandoline or very sharp knife, thinly slice the fennel and the red onion and place in a bowl. Add juice of orange and lemon and season with salt and pepper. Pit olives and coarsely chop; add to bowl. Add capers and arugula or kale. When ready to serve, add EVOO, 2 slow turns of the bowl, toss and serve.