Pizza Sausage

Last time we were back in Iowa, I really wanted to make a variety of pizzas that day so that everyone could have their favorite. One of my nephew's favorite toppings is sausage, and I just didn't know how to make that. Fortunately, he also really likes cheese, so the absence of sausage pizza went unnoticed. But it made me start thinking about pizza sausage incessantly. Some people get songs stuck in their head. I get food.

I looked around for a couple of recipes. I wanted to try and follow this sausage recipe  to the letter. I mean, the picture makes it look super yum. Problem was, I don't have fennel, which I think is the main seasoning from the recipe. I also skipped on the salt and the red pepper flakes. And then I decided to put in a whole bunch of italian seasoning herbs. So much for following the recipe.

Pizza Sausage:

1. 1 lb ground pork. The other recipe wanted me to go and get like some sort of ratio of meat to fat pork. This is way too annoying to try and find. I just got a package of it in the meat case. 
2. 1 t garlic powder
3. 1 t italian seasonings. We got this set of magnetic spice containers as a wedding gift. They work awesome on our 1970s metal cabinet kitchen. But the spices inside are just crap. I used the "italian seasonings" herb mix. I am pretty sure it was scraped off the bottom of a gardener's boot. I don't know why I used this. I suppose I am trying to use them up. 

The recipe told me to mix all the pork and seasonings and then form it into a large patty. I did this, even though I did think it was weird. When it was par-cooked, I took it off the heat and broke it up into cherry tomato size pieces. This was an enjoyable activity.

 I then made my pizza dough as usual. What I did do differently was to use San Marzano tomatoes. I once saw something on Food Network where they extolled the virtues of the San Marzano. None of the grocery stores that I usually go to carry San Marzanos, which I found frustrating. I did find a can at Whole Foods, however.

I opened the can and put it directly on to the pizza dough. Didn't cook the tomatoes or anything. Then I topped and cooked the pizza the normal way.

The pizzas were a mixed bag. The pizza sausage was good/pretty good. Meaty and juicy and with mico-edges of crispiness. But it lacked the same something that my meatballs were missing. Maybe I will try the fennel. Or salt.

The pound of pork I used in this recipe made enough sausage for about three of my pizzas.

Although the sausage weren't exactly a home run, these pizzas were quite memorable because of the sauce. The San Marzano tomatoes were wonderfully sweet. Not sweet like how Chicago-style pizza crusts are sweet or like how generic store brand pizza sauce is sweet. The San Marzanos are sweet like how carrots can be sweet or lettuce can be sweet. It made everything just pop with freshness and clean-ness, which is odd because it came from a can.

With the onions I had on my sausage pizza, it was marvelous. For Sarah, I made a mushroom and feta pizza. And the San Marzanos played particularly well the mushrooms too.

The next time I go to Whole Foods, I am going to buy a case of this stuff.