Pumpkin pizza with Italian chicken sausage, caramelized onions and goat cheese is a fantastic way to shake up your holiday meals! This was a huge hit with my whole family.
1poundrefrigerated pizza dough (preferably whole wheat)brought to room temperature
Flour for dusting
Cornmeal for dusting pizza peel
Instructions
The pumpkin mixture:
In a bowl, stir together the pumpkin puree, vegetable broth, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
The toppings:
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and lightly coat with cooking spray.
Squeeze the sausages out of the casings into the skillet. Discard the casings. Using a wooden spoon, break up the sausage as it cooks. Once cooked through, transfer the sausage to a bowl lined with paper towel to absorb the oil.
Reduce the heat to medium. Return the skillet to the heat and add the olive oil.
Add the sliced onion, salt and pepper. Cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are deep golden brown. During the cooking, add water as necessary, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time, to prevent the onions from burning and drying out. Be sure that all of the water is absorbed before removing from the heat.
Stir in the sage and balsamic vinegar. Remove from the heat.
The pizza:
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Place a pizza stone in the oven to heat for 10 minutes. If using a baking sheet, grease with avocado or canola oil.
Dust the countertop or large cutting board with flour. Using a rolling pin dusted with flour, roll the pizza dough into a large circle (about 12 inches).
If using a pizza stone to cook the pizza, transfer the dough to a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal. If using a baking sheet, place the dough on the oiled baking sheet.
Spread the pumpkin mixture on the crust, almost to the edge.
Top with the cooked sausage, caramelized onions and crumbled goat cheese.
Transfer the pizza from the pizza peel to the heated pizza stone (or place the baking sheet in the oven).
Cook until the crust is light golden brown and firm when tapped, 8 to 10 minutes.
Sprinkle the toasted pecans over the other toppings. Cut the pizza into 6 slices. Serve.