One of the tough things about being out of town working, especially in a small college town, is the omnipresence of pizza. As you all know... I could eat pizza 24/7/365. But it has to be my pizza...
I hate pizza with sub-quality ingredients, too much cheese and a crust that's an afterthought as opposed to the hearty bread it deserves to be. So when I returned to Yonkers and had time to make a batch of dough...
There was a bit of hot Italian sausage in the freezer... and some good canned tomatoes on the shelf... a little fresh sage I'd brought home with me... tons of garlic (not just for flavor, but because it's a cure-all and I'd been around students for two months and students are always sick)...
So, I gently sautéed the sausage, drained some of the fat, added the garlic and some red pepper flakes, then added chopped sage and let it all cool. I topped the pizza with the cooled sauce, sprinkled chopped fresh mozzarella...
YES, I KNOW, people say not to use the good fresh stuff, but rather the rubber supermarket kind. Ignore Them!
And topped that with a little fresh Parmesan and a splash of EVOO...
Seven or eight minutes later, we sat at table with silly grins and burned tongues. Yes, I'm guilty, you really should let it cool a bit, but I'm a two-year-old when it comes to pizza!!!