Mesquite Chicken Sausage and Pepper Pizza

Pizza night is here! But this isn’t your everyday sausage and bell pepper pizza. Featuring subtle enhancements such as mesquite flour, balsamic, and oregano.

I think I may have an obsession with chicken/sausage and bell pepper as toppings on pizza. Let me back track for a moment. I have an obsession with pizza in general (not to mention that I already posted a recipe earlier this week as a side dish to pizza). Not only is it is incredibly versatile and can be topped with pretty much whatever I have on hand, but it’s basically a nonrecipe. I have to admit, when making pizzas I rarely using measuring cups/spoons other than for the pizza dough and I have a feeling many of you don’t precisely measure when it comes to cooking.

This statement was made evident by a recent discussion I had with my friend Haley on how she executed a particular recipe. She recounted her tale about throwing in a handful of this, a sprinkle of that and oh wait I don’t remember what I put in it exactly. But thankfully for you all, I am pretty good and eyeballing amounts and make a point to write down everything as I go so that when I do post the recipe I actually can tell you how to make it! Amazing how that works.

But back to how I started this post. I’ve shared several pizzas with the aforementioned toppings already including (1) Sausage, Red Bell Pepper and Spinach Pesto, (2) Mexican, (3) Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper, (4) Asparagus, Red Pepper, and Goat Cheese, and (5) Spicy Chicken and Pepper Jack. However, today’s version is not easily confused for the others. Even the crust is slightly different!

A wonderful follower of mine, Susan, is always telling me what she thinks of the recipes of mine she has tried (particularly the pizzas) and always has great suggestions for ways she made the recipe her own. Heck one time it sounded so good that I had to make it myself and seen with the Fig, Goat cheese, and Kielbasa Sausage Pizza. One of her recent adaptations involved mesquite flour mixed into my cornmeal crust. After telling her I had never had it before, she generously sent me with some of her own homemade mesquite flour! You better believe I mixed that stuff into the dough for my next pizza night! To highlight the mesquite flavor I went with a mesquite seasoned chicken sausage and of course bell pepper ;-). Next I can’t wait to mix it into cornbread!

One year ago: Cheetos Cheeseburgers

Three years ago: Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Browned Butter Sauce

MESQUITE CHICKEN SAUSAGE AND PEPPER PIZZA

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 recipe cornmeal pizza dough (I substituted 1/2 cup flour with mesquite flour), risen

1/2 cup pizza sauce (or homemade)

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella

1/4 cup shredded Pecorino Romano

1 (4 oz.) link chicken sausage, cooked and sliced

1 medium orange or yellow bell pepper, sliced

1 tsp dried oregano

Directions:

1. Place pizza stone on middle rack and allow to preheat in the oven to 450°F.
2. Roll out dough to desired size and transfer to a pizza peel (or flat baking sheet) sprinkled with cornmeal.
3. In a small bowl, combine pizza sauce and vinegar. Spread mixture evenly over the dough, top with cheeses, sausage, bell pepper, and oregano.
4. Transfer to the hot pizza stone (it’ll take a couple shakes) and bake for 15 minutes or until it the crust turns golden and the cheese starts to bubble. Allow to cool slightly before cutting and serving.

Source: Adapted slightly from Cooking Light, July 2015.

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