This is our absolute favorite pizza. The bitterness of the arugula is a wonderful complement to the salty, spicy Italian sausage.
Ingredients for two 12″ thin-crust pizzas. I only make one at a time, so I refrigerate the ingredients for the other half separately to make the second pizza a couple days later.
- One recipe of the dough for Golden Cheese Wheel
- 1 lb spicy pork Italian sausage (3-4 links, from Whole Foods)
- 4 Tbs tomato paste
- 5 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed through the garlic press
- 1 tsp dried basil
- Pinch of salt
- 2 Tbs olive oil
- 2Tbs warm water
- 7 oz package baby arugula (from Trader Joe’s)
- 8 oz. mozzarella, shredded
- Prepare pizza dough a few hours ahead. Meanwhile, remove the sausage casings and cook the sausage in a skillet, breaking into small pieces as it cooks. Place cooked sausage in shallow dish lined with paper towels. Can be done ahead and refrigerated until you’re ready to use.
- In a small bowl, stir together the tomato paste, garlic, basil, salt, and olive oil. Stir in enough water (about 2Tbs) to make a sauce the consistency of jam.
- Preheat oven with stone to 500 and let heat an additional 20-30 minutes.
- When you’re ready to form the pizza dough, pinch off half (if you’re making a whole recipe of dough) and on a floured surface roll or stretch out to a rectangle or circle to fit the pizza stone. you’ll probably need to let it rest a couple times to get it to stretch to the desired size. Smear a light coating of olive oil on the BACK side of the large baking sheet; dust with cornmeal. Transfer the dough to the back side of the baking sheet.
- Spread tomato paste mixture evenly over entire surface of dough. I use a very flexible silicone spatula for this. Put in hot oven and immediately reduce heat to 425. Bake 6 minutes.
- Remove from oven and top with arugula. It’s easiest to dump the entire pile on a once, and then use fingertips to gently spread the pile out to the edges. Top with crumbled sausage. Top with shredded mozzarella. Pressing gently with your hands, flatten the entire mound so that it is of a uniform thickness. With a metal spatula, loosen the pizza crust.
- Return pizza to oven, sliding pizza off baking sheet directly onto baking stone. Bake 5 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly. Cut into small pieces and serve immediately.