September 28, 2010

tomato, potato & chicken sausage pizza

This pizza would be a perfect thing to make when you want to impress guests without being too fancy . . . or on a Monday night with just you and your husband. He appreciates it, after all! First, and foremost: I often buy my pizza crust from Trader Joe's (you can typically find this near their cheese section). It's (something like) $2 and saves a LOT of time. The only thing I do differently than the package says is, I let it rest for 20 minutes on the counter and then I remove it from the package, cover it with a towel and let it rise for another 20 minutes or so. This really makes it so much easier to roll out. If you really want to make your own pizza dough, I recommend this book.

You also should preheat your oven as soon as you begin this process with your pizza stone inside (oh, and you really should use a pizza stone - if you don't have one you can use whatever pan you want but the pizza stone makes a big difference).
1 package of Trader Joe's pizza crust dough
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons rosemary leaves, chopped
1 clove garlic, sliced
2 cups fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced (you can use shredded, if you must)
1/4 cup Parmesan-Reggiano, shredded
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 yukon gold potato, sliced
2 links chicken sausage (I used Trader Joe's - they have a good selection)
3 Tablespoons fresh basil leaves, julienned (my plant died so I didn't have any but I think this would have been the perfect final touch)

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees with the rack in the middle position.

In a small saucepan, combine the olive oil, rosemary leaves and garlic. Simmer over medium low heat for 3 minutes and remove from heat. Allow to cool before using.

Place the potato slices on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and, using your hands, mix to combine and then spread potato slices evenly on the sheet. Bake for 10 minutes until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside. Don't turn off oven.

Heat a medium saute pan over medium high heat. Remove chicken sausages from casing and saute until browned. Remove from heat and set aside.

Roll out the pizza dough on a floured surface and place on pizza stone (or other pan). Cook for about 3 - 4 minutes until the crust just starts to puff up. Remove from oven and brush the entire surface with the herb olive oil. Layer with mozzarella, potato slices, tomato slices, chicken sausage and then Parmesan-Reggiano cheese. Brush the outer crust with more herb olive oil and bake again until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown (about 12 - 14 minutes). Remove from oven and sprinkle with basil.

8 comments:

  1. Ooh I am excited to try this. I loved the baked potato pizza from Craigos in Rexburg and hope this one will hit the spot. :) Thanks.

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  2. Looks delish! I'll try this soon for sure.

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  3. yum! we do pizza about once a week and try new things out- in fact- i just keep dough in my freezer at all times- thanks for the new one, we will have to try it! when we live by you we may need to have pizza nights on the schedule. :)

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  4. I love potato on pizza! This recipe sounds delicious - thanks!

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  5. I made this for dinner tonight - delicious pizza! I've made many of your recipes and they are all fantastic! Thanks from a long time lurker

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  6. Can you addend this to let us know how you made it on the grill? Did you still use the pizza stone? Thanks so much!!

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