Thursday, July 26, 2012

Italian Sausage, Spinach, and Heirloom Tomato Pizza

I'm VERY excited to share this recipe! I think it's the perfect balance of meat and veggies. I usually go for pepperoni and some veggies for pizza toppings, but I had a hankering for spinach pizza. And Italian sausage! And I was given MORE organic produce (I know, lucky lucky lucky) and tried heirloom tomatoes for the first time and they rocked my world! They taste like a flavor-concentrated version of regular tomatoes. Not only are they brighter in color, but I thought they tasted brighter in flavor too. I know they are expensive, but for certain dishes like this where tomatoes are one of the stars, I will definitely shell out a little extra cash for the heirlooms in the future. There is no sauce on this pizza! The diced heirloom tomatoes are the first layer of the pizza so you get a little burst of tomato with each chunk. And it's absolutely delightful! 




Italian Sausage, Spinach, and Heirloom Tomato Pizza
Makes 1 large pizza (4 servings)
Total Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
1 2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 Italian sausage links
3 heirloom tomatoes
10 oz frozen spinach (1 box), thawed
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Remove sausage from casing and cook over medium heat, breaking into small pieces. Cook until no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes. Place cooked sausage on a plate lined with paper towels to drain the excess grease.

2. Remove stems from tomatoes and dice. Wrap thawed spinach in 3-4 paper towels and squeeze as much liquid out as possible.

3. Roll out pizza dough. Top with the heirloom tomatoes. Sprinkle with garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle 2/3 cup mozzarella cheese over the tomatoes. Top with spinach, Italian sausage, and remaining cheese, all evenly spread in layers.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Enjoy!




I thoroughly enjoy sausage on pizza! Remove the Italian sausage from the casing and cook over medium heat, breaking up into pieces. Cook until not longer pink. This picture shows it's close to done.
Place the cooked sausage on a plate lined with paper towels to drain some grease.

Look at these beauties! I loved the colors of the heirlooms. I even had a few that were kind of magenta and purple looking! Remove the stems and dice the heirloom tomatoes.

Wrap the thawed spinach in paper towels and squeeze as much of the liquid out as possible!

Roll out the pizza dough and top with the heirloom tomatoes. Sprinkle the garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. These chunks will be little tomato flavor explosions when you eat the pizza!

Add 2/3 cup of the shredded mozzarella cheese.

Layer on the spinach, sausage, and the remaining cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

You get just enough of each ingredient in every bite. The fruity heirlooms act as your sauce and give you little bursts of tomato flavor each bite, there is enough spinach to make it still feel like a spinach pizza, and the Italian sausage is the perfect meaty addition. And of course all of this is layered in mozzarella. Mmm!!! Some of my best work. YOU WILL LOVE THIS PIZZA I promise.




3 comments:

  1. this looks SO freaking good. like something you'd find in an italian eatery in roma. oh my gosh.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You've inspired me to make pizza this weekend! I love that you don't use marinara with this recipe, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah you don't even need the sauce! The bursts of juicy heirloom tomatoes are enough sauce on their own :)

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