Fennel sausage, goats cheese and spinach pizza ... and a road trip

Stormbringer · February 19

Illness, it seems, can sometimes have a silver lining of good fortune attached. SWMBO and I were planning a relaxing weekend at home, cooking some tasty double cut pork chops on Saturday night. Then her dad phoned up, saying that he and his wife had tickets to a masked ball but they had both fallen ill and would we like the tickets? Yes, was the answer.

And thus SWMBO and I embarked on an impromptu road trip, stopping at various wine merchants en route to our destination. One such was a store that also specialised in Italian foods, where we picked up a metric ton of pasta along with some herbacious fennel sausage and delicious prosciutto. SWMBO decided when we returned home, and after having had the double cut pork chops that were put on hold from Saturday, it was time for pizza. The Italian store also sold pre-made pizza bases ... when in Rome, as the saying goes.

We attended the ball, and upon returning to the homestead in rural Englandshire, embarked upon making a classic pizza. I loaded up the pre-made base with shredded mozzarella, then added in some cooked fennel sausage, spinach and crumbled goats cheese.

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The prosciutto was layered on top of that.

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Cooked in the large at 700F raised into the dome on fire bricks for 4 mins, this was an absolute winner.

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It went down very well with a Chianti Ruffina. Thanks for looking!

lousubcap · February 19

Great story and closure. Always an impressive cook. I would roll out Uma but you know that script.
Da-n outstanding right there.

johnmitchell · February 19

Fantastic!!! I bet that tasted amazing 😋

Florida Grillin Girl · February 20

You made that happen. Good for you two, and Good Eats! Hope the inlaws are feeling better.

shtgunal3 · February 20

Nice pie

Stormbringer · February 20

johnmitchell said:

Fantastic!!! I bet that tasted amazing 😋

It was really good. The base wasn't as good as homemade bases, but very good. The fennel sausage really made it special.

Stormbringer · February 20

Florida Grillin Girl said:

You made that happen. Good for you two, and Good Eats! Hope the inlaws are feeling better.

They are, thanks.

JohnInCarolina · February 20

Love the toppings combo. I’ll be giving this a try for sure!

Stormbringer · February 20

JohnInCarolina said:

Love the toppings combo. I’ll be giving this a try for sure!

I put five slices of prosciutto on it shrank a lot, next time I do this I’ll put 8-10 on.

JohnInCarolina · February 20

Stormbringer said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Love the toppings combo. I’ll be giving this a try for sure!

I put five slices of prosciutto on it shrank a lot, next time I do this I’ll put 8-10 on.

I don’t think you used any sauce for a base? I think this could work well with a thin red sauce underneath the mozz.

Stormbringer · February 20

JohnInCarolina said:

Stormbringer said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Love the toppings combo. I’ll be giving this a try for sure!

I put five slices of prosciutto on it shrank a lot, next time I do this I’ll put 8-10 on.

I don’t think you used any sauce for a base? I think this could work well with a thin red sauce underneath the mozz.

I used a thin layer of shredded moz as a base. I was thinking about using passatta but wasn't sure whether it would work with spinach. If I was going to use a sauce, it would be bechemal. I've done that before on pizza, it works surprisingly well.

Elijah · February 20

Keep the prosciutto raw and add some rocket raw after cooking and you'll think you're in Italy

Stormbringer · February 20

Elijah said:

Keep the prosciutto raw and add some rocket raw after cooking and you'll think you're in Italy

I’ll give it a go.

Elijah · February 21

I think part of the raw prosciutto is to slice it very thin so it doesn't drag off. This was from a place that pizza was the main course which was unusual. It had just opened and the wait was crazy unless you wanted to go inside and sit. I believe it was Reggio Emilia.

Stormbringer · February 22

@Elijah tried it tonight but heated the prosciutto for a couple of minutes to get it warm. Worked really well.

Haley · February 22

Is that setup a stone spaced above another stone with no platesetter? If so can you tell us what you did for temperature and time the pie was cooked? I have always wanted to try that.

Elijah · February 23

@Stormbringer that's it. Thrown on right after coming out of the cooker for me is good. I can't do it here really just because of the quality of prosciutto that is readily available. Yours looks much better. Mouth is watering

Stormbringer · February 23

Haley said:

Is that setup a stone spaced above another stone with no platesetter? If so can you tell us what you did for temperature and time the pie was cooked? I have always wanted to try that.

I use a platesetter, raised into the dome on fire bricks.