Turkey Sausage, Red Onion, and Shiitake Mushroom Pizza

Meal number one in the new, non-Asian leaf we have turned over - pizza.  And a great pizza at that.  Restaurant-quality pizza.  For which I give a lot of the credit to the sausage and the dough.  The turkey sausage came from DiPaolo Turkey Farm at the Greenmarket and I think it is better than most pork Italian sausages.  Their turkey sausage is just so incredibly flavorful and somehow is less dry than other turkey sausages.  It has a ton of fennel seed and other spices to really make it special.  If the sausage hadn't been so flavorful the pizza wouldn't have been nearly as good.  The same goes for the dough (which I picked up from Eataly) - because the cooked pizza crust had the perfect taste and texture.  I guess some of the credit there goes to the pizza stone too.  That pizza stone is a pain in the butt and weighs a ton, but it can really make a difference to your meal.  Aside from the dough, the pizza just had a really nice flavor profile.  The onions gave the pizza some sweetness, the sausage gave it spice and a certain meatiness, and then the mushrooms made the pizza taste earthy and hearty.  I also loved the hint of fresh rosemary in every bite. 

The taste of this pizza had almost nothing to do with our skill as chefs, and everything to do with the quality of the ingredients.  I'm calling this pizza my quasimodo pizza since there was a bit of an incident when I transferred the pizza onto the pizza stone.  Generally Alex and I roll out the dough on a cutting board, then using the rolling pin we transfer the pizza to the back of a cookie sheet that has been liberally dusted with cornmeal.  The cornmeal acts like little ball bearings and turns the cookie sheet into a ghetto pizza peel.  But due to the weight of the toppings the pizza stretched out while I was trying to transfer it from the cookie sheet to the pizza stone, and so the stretched out pizza ended up flopping off the end of the stone.  I took a spatula and flipped the extra crust back on top of the pizza and called it a day.  So I may not be a perfect pizza chef, but who cares when the results are this tasty?

Recipe after the jump!

Turkey Sausage, Red Onion, and Shiitake Mushroom Pizza

Adapted from Bon Appetit

March 2005

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb ball purchased fresh pizza dough (we used dough I picked up at Eataly)

1/2 cup finely grated Piave or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (we used Parm-Reg)

1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary, divided

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Coarse kosher salt

2-3 tbsp evoo, divided

3/4 lb hot turkey Italian sausage (I highly recommend DiPaolo sausage if you can get it)

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

5 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms, thickly sliced

1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven with a pizza stone inside to 450°F.  

Lightly flour your working surface. Place dough on work surface and let stand until it is room temperature, about 20 minutes. Lightly flour the top of the dough. Either using your hands or a rolling pin, roll the dough until about 1/4-inch think. Sprinkle with Parm-Reg, 1/2 tbsp rosemary, and crushed red pepper flakes. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Transfer dough rounds to prepared baking sheets.

Heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage. Saute until browned, breaking into pieces with back of slotted spoon, about 5 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to a bowl. Add onion to skillet. Saute until tender, about 2 minutes. Transfer to plate. Add remaining1 1/2 tbsp evoo. Add mushrooms and remaining rosemary. Saute until mushrooms begin to turn golden, about 2 minutes, then add s&p. Leaving 1/2-inch plain border, top dough with mozzarella, sausage, onion and mushrooms.

Bake until crust bottoms are crisp and brown, about 10-12 minutes. Allow pizza to cool on the pizza stone for 5 minutes. Using large spatula, transfer pizzas to a cutting board. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired. 

Cut into slices and serve.