Pistachio Pesto Sausage Pizza

When the pizza gods bless you with a perfect combination of sauce and topping, do you ignore them? No. You listen intently and then you become a disciple of their pizza doctrine and then you spread the good word! What does any of this have to do with today’s post? Well a while back I tried a pistachio pesto sausage pizza at Verde here in Baltimore and it blew my mind. It was unlike anything I had ever tasted before.

Over the previous two weeks I have alluded to this pizza with my pistachio pesto post and my homemade pizza dough post.

Words cannot truly describe the heaven that is each bite of this pizza, pistachios build a unreal creamy yet mildly sweet base that makes for some of the best pesto I’ve ever had. Throw in crumbled sausage and you’re in business. In this recipe I used breakfast sausage, and you’re probably going to stay…ARE YOU NUTS?! But hear me out.

First, it was a snow storm and no other sausage was available. That’s number 1.

Number TWO! I removed the sausage from it’s casing, sauteed it in bacon fat and tossed it with Italian spices such as dried basil and oregano. Let me tell you, it tasted better than any normal sausage you would put on a pizza. Plus the good thing about breakfast sausage is that while it’s crumbly it still has that springy texture that can sometimes go missing when using a more prototypical Italian sausage.

A key to this recipe is using fresh mozzarella, it really makes a difference in the flavor and how it melts on the pizza, so try and buy a mozzarella has is fresh or wrapped. You can typically find these at or near a deli counter at a traditional grocery store and in the cheese aisle at Whole Foods.

There isn’t much more I can say about this pizza, other than make it now! Then eat it now! Then make it again! And again! Actually maybe don’t eat a whole pizza twice in quick succession, you’ll most likely see rapid weight gain in your future. #fitfam.

 

Recipe – Pistachio Basil Pesto Sausage Pizza

Ingredients

Pistachio Basil (1/8 cup, touch more if you like a stronger pesto flavor)

1/2 Cup of Crumbled Sausage (if you don’t have Italian sausage on-hand, I used breakfast sausage that I de-skinned and sauteed with Italian seasoning)

1 Portion of Pizza Dough

1 Cup of Mozzarella Cheese (Preferably a softer mozzarella cheese)

3 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese

2 Tbsp. Cornmeal

2 Tbsp. Flour for rolling out the dough

*Pizza Stone*

Method

*Preheat the oven to 550F, yes that hot, make sure your pizza stone is already in the oven*

Step 1 – Spread the cornmeal and flour on a piece of parchment paper over a large cutting board (if you have a pizza spatula thingamajig you can forgo the parchment paper.

Step 2- Roll out the dough over the cornmeal and flour so the dough is nice and flat.

Step 3- Spread the pesto evenly over the dough.

Step 4 – Now spread the mozzarella cheese evenly over the dough. I prefer to cut the cheese into thin discs and spread it over, but you can shred it if you so choose.

Step 5- Spread the sausage evenly over the dough.

Step 6 – Sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over the pizza.

Step 7 – Place the pizza on the pizza stone inside the oven, be careful not to burn yourself. (This is where your pizza spatula would come in handy, if not use the parchment paper as your way of lifting up the dough. DO NOT USE YOUR HANDS you’ll have a mess soon enough, the dough is not sturdy enough. Trust me I’ve made this mistake before.)

Step 8 – Cook for approximately 10 minutes, depending on your preference of doneness for the crust.

Step 9 – Remove the pizza from the oven and enjoy, if you have the parchment paper, pull it (with the pizza on it) onto a tray or cutting board. Basically do whatever you have to do to get the pizza onto a tray.

 

 

 

 

 

Homemade Pizza Dough

3 Tbsp. Of Pistachio Pesto

Crumbled Sausage

Mozzarella Cheese