Grilling pizza is a summer time favorite for us. This is a rift on the traditional pizza. Rendered spicy Italian sausage with caramelized fennel and Vidalia onions on top of ricotta and mozzarella. Cooking the crust twice, once to pre-cook it and the other with the toppings, allows the crust to get crispy, but also chewy. I think most people haven’t caught on to how easy grilling pizza is and how much better it taste then cooking it in the oven. We know that once you try this White Pizza with Sausage, Fennel and Onions it will be on rotation in your house too.
White Pizza with Sausage, Fennel, and Onions
Author: Dominique Cook
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- ½ lb hot Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 medium Vidalia onion, sliced
- 1 fennel bulb, outer leaves removed and sliced
- 4-5 ounces fresh mozzarella
- ¾ cup ricotta, preferably homemade
- 16 ounces pizza dough, divided into 4 -8 ounce balls
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage. Saute until brown, breaking into pieces with back of spoon, about 5-7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to a small bowl. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion and fennel to the skillet, sprinkle with salt. Saute until softened and caramelized, about 10-12 minutes. Transfer to another small bowl.
- Heat a grill or grill pan over high heat.
- On a large, oiled, inverted baking sheet, spread and flatten 1 -4 ounce ball of dough with your hands into a free-form circle, ⅛-inch thick. Do not make a lip. You might end up with a rectangle rather than a circle; the shape is not important, but do make sure the thickness is even.
- Use your fingertips to lift the dough gently by the 2 corners closest to you, and drape in onto the grill. Catch the loose edge on the grill first and slide the remaining dough into place over the fire. Within a minute the dough will puff slightly, the underside will stiffen, and grill marks will appear. Cook 3-4 minutes on each side. Set the cooked dough aside on a sheet pan. Repeat the process with the remaining dough. Place the cooked dough on the sheet pan with the other cooked doughs
- Place the sausage, onion and fennel, ricotta and mozzarella in an assembly line.
- Dollop about 2-3 tbsp of ricotta all over the cooked dough, then using your fingers break off pieces of mozzarella and place where there isn't ricotta. Finally, sprinkle sausage and place the onions and fennel onto the pizza. You want to be careful not to overcrowd the pizza. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Repeat the process with the remaining 3 cooked doughs.
- Place each pizza back on the grill and cook for an additional 6-7 minutes. The pizzas are done when the cheese is melted. Serve immediately.
