Eggplant, Turkey Sausage and Goat Cheese Pizza

It's been awhile since I've posted a pizza recipe.  Which is quite odd since Matt and I make pizza just about every Friday night.  I guess sometimes it seems pointless to write down a recipe for pizza since once you have the dough and sauce you are good to go.  However, I decided to share this recipe as an inspiration-I think the toppings are a little bit different and I'm not sure it's a combination that most people would think of on their own.  We really liked the way all of these toppings complimented each other-the strong flavor of the goat cheese really stands up to the spiciness of the sausage and then roasting the eggplant really brings out the flavor. 



Eggplant, Turkey Sausage and Goat Cheese Pizza

1 recipe pizza dough

1 small eggplant

2 spicy turkey sausage links

Pizza sauce

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese (or more or less depending on preference)

1 ounce Goat cheese

red pepper flakes

freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Slice the eggplant thinly (about 1/4"), then quarter the slices. Place eggplant on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with pepper. Roast about 15 minutes, turning halfway though. While eggplant is roasting, cut the sausages into bite size pieces, and roast about 5-7 minutes, remove immediately from oven as soon as they begin to turn golden.

While the eggplant and sausages are roasting, put your pizza stone in the oven (if you're using one), let the stone warm up.  You can keep it in the oven after the eggplant and sausage are finished cooking.

Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll out your dough. When stone is ready, remove from the oven, sprinkle with cornmeal (optional), and transfer the dough to the stone. Bursh the edge of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian seasoning (optional). Spread on the pizza sauce, followed by the mozzarella cheese, eggplant and sausage.  Dollop on the goat cheese, and finish with some pepper & red pepper flakes. Transfer pizza stone back to the oven, and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. 

 

Adapted from Erin's Food Files