Pastured Sausage and Jalapeno Pizza

When we were in Antigua last December our resort had a lunch restaurant with a wood-fire pizza oven. Well, it wasn’t just a lunch restaurant it was actually open until about 5:00pm. The pizza was delicious, and I’m not going to lie, there were some fourth-meals consumed in the afternoon between lunch and dinner.

This past weekend when my parents were in, I made my Brown Biscuits with the pastured pork sausage I got from Pike Valley Farm. I held some of it back to use later in the week for this pizza. Fortunately I also had some pizza crust in the freezer so it was a quick meal.

I don’t have a favorite crust at the moment. I typically use the recipe on the back of the Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat flour bag and substitute White Whole Wheat Flour to make it a little lighter. Turns out great.

For the sauce, I use tomato puree in my basic marinara and usually add a little more crushed red pepper to spice it up a bit. Although with the jalapenos on this pizza, that wasn’t really necessary.

Sausage Jalapeno Pizza

2 pizza crusts, about 8 to 9 inch
½ cup pizza sauce
¼ lb. pastured pork sausage, browned
1 cup cheese, shredded (I like cheddar with this combo)
½ cup sliced jalapenos

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. I know I’m a bit odd with this, but I don’t like my pizza dough to be uncooked or soggy in the middle. The only way I’ve been able to master this with at-home pizza is to bake it for about 5 to 7 minutes before adding the toppings.

Divide the sauce and spread on each pizza. Top with the sausage (with pastured you won’t need to do any draining or rinsing), then the cheese. Next spread your jalapenos evenly on each pizza. Bake 7 to 10 minutes more until cheese is browned and bubbly.