Crave Wednesday: Sausage Pizza

I vividly recall Thatkid's first experience with sausage.  It was the first time he ever had solid foods, at 6 months we gave him pancakes, sausage, and green beans.  It was turkey breakfast sausage and he loved it.  Love the sweet taste of the meat, the way he could hold the little link, everything about it.

He's not as big a fan of the spicier sausages, but he has liked the milder ones ever since.  And he especially likes sausage on pizza.  Even surprising us with his approval for spicier sausage than he would tolerate in something like pasta.  Pizza is kind of magical in that way.

This pizza was especially great for Thatkid since it makes use of a sweet turkey sausage, which started his love affair with food.  It also forgoes the typical white or yellow onion in favor of the red onion, which for some reason he also will tolerate.  (Sometimes.  He's a toddler, so every third Wednesday he may decide he doesn't like it.)  As I stated last week, Thatboy is always happy with meat on his pizza, so he also really enjoyed this meal.  Personally, I probably would have liked some more cheese, but I really liked the addition of the fennel.  It's such an undervalued vegetable, but really brings out a lot of different flavors when you use it.  And it's just as versatile cooked or raw!

Sausage Pizza (From Cooking Light)

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 link sweet turkey Italian sausage

1/2 cup vertically sliced fennel bulb

1/2 cup thinly vertically sliced red onion

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup chopped and seeded tomatoes

Pizza dough

1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1. Place a pizza stone on bottom rack of oven and preheat oven to 500.    Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add pepper and cook 10 seconds.
2. Remove casing from sausage and cook sausage, fennel, and onion for 3 minutes, until browned.
3. Stir in salt and tomatoes and cook 2 minutes more.  Remove from heat.
4. Roll dough into a 10-inch circle on a lightly floured surface.  Place dough on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.
5. Spread sausage mixture over dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border.  Slide dough onto the pizza stone.  Bake for 8 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with cheese and cut into 6 wedges.