Sausage Grape Ricotta Pizza

In my little neighborhood in Boston, I am surrounded by some of the city's best pizza.  Every time I am walking to and from work I can smell the fresh pizza baking.  Talk about torture!  I would love to just walk into one of those places and grab a slice for dinner but sadly, I do not have that luxury.  That being said, my desire to never feel left out has forced me to learn how to make really great homemade pizza.  My boyfriend, Mike, is a HUGE pizza lover so I also have some serious competition getting him to eat at home with me and not walk down the street to Regina's Pizzeria.  Thankfully he is so easy going and always loves my cooking, he even is willing to help me in the kitchen!  Homemade pizza is one of our favorite weekend meals.


Inspired by my DIY Ricotta, we decided to make two different pizzas, one sweet and the other savory.  I had a hard time convincing Mike grapes on pizza wasn't weird but once it was all put together he agreed it was delicious and totally works.  Ricotta is such a great versatile cheese that can be taken in so many directions, compliments a variety of flavors and offers great texture to pizza.  The first pizza we made was a Sausage Grape Ricotta Pizza.

We started off making the pizza sauce (this is usually my job).  I make my own from tomato paste, dried basil, garlic powder, olive oil, water, salt and pepper.  I combine all the ingredients in the pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Allow the sauce to bubble and once thoroughly heated turn down to a very low simmer for about 5 minutes to let the flavors incorporate, be careful not to let the sauce burn.  I adjust the ingredients to taste and appearance, and keep adjusting it until I get the desired thickness and flavor I am looking for.  If you don't want to make your own pizza sauce, I have used Rao's Pizza Sauce in the past.  I have found it in a few of my local grocery stores.  It is absolutely delicious, but truly anything works.  Once the sauce is ready turn off the heat and set aside. 

Pizza is all about getting the various toppings ready before assembly.  There are a lot of different parts happening in the beginning that need to be put aside.  For the first topping, we used a sweet Italian sausage from the meat market downstairs, took it out of the casing and browned it over the stove.  Once the sausage cooked we transferred it to a plate lined with paper towel to drain.

Next take about thirty grapes and slice them in half.  The amount of grapes can be added to taste.  If you have never had grapes on pizza before, trust me, the sweetness paired with the saltiness of the sweet Italian sausage and ricotta takes your pizza taste buds to a whole new level!

While preparing the rest of the ingredients, grate half a block of sharp cheddar cheese and set aside.

Now for the rolling out of the dough.  It is important to coat your rolling surface with flour to ensure that it won't stick.  I use regular white flour and also add some corn meal to give the dough a little more flavor and texture.  For this pizza night we used store bought whole wheat dough from Whole Foods.  I feel like if we are making our own sauce and pizza it is totally justified to buy the dough but any single batch of dough will do.  We cut this in half to create a thinner crust and will use the second half for our savory pizza.

 

Rolling out the pizza dough is usually Mike's job.  This is just not my area of expertise, but we all have our strengths and weaknesses.  Once the dough is rolled out it's time to begin adding the ingredients, starting with the sauce.  As much as I love pizza sauce, sadly I typically can not eat a lot of it as it is another food item that just does not sit well with me.  You may be wondering, Why do I even try to make pizza if I can't eat cheese or red sauce?  Because it is delicious and I just won't take no for an answer! So, I came up with another solution for that problem - pesto on my pizza!  I think it has great flavor and is an easy substitute.  I love Whole Foods 365 brand pesto, and a little goes a long way so you can use it for many more recipes in the future.  If the pesto is thicker than you would like on your pizza just thin it with a little olive oil.  Pizza can really be made any way you want so if you prefer just red sauce or just pesto this recipe can be easily adjusted to taste!  

Time for the toppings assembly!  We first added the cheddar cheese as the base, then evenly sprinkled on the crumbled sausage.  Next we placed the grapes throughout and to finish it, topped it off with dollops of the DIY Ricotta. Finally we sprinkled it with a little salt and pepper as the finishing touch!  Once we felt like the toppings were to our desire we placed it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, until the crust was golden brown.

Since the sausage was precooked, we really just had to wait for the crust to be done.  We like the crust to be a little doughy on the edges but have a nice crunch on the bottom so we checked it around fifteen minutes or so and decided it needed a few more minutes.  Pizza can be tricky because it depends on how the dough is rolled out so in those last few minutes keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn't over cook.  Let it cool and then slice up and serve!

The creamy Ricotta really added fabulous flavor and texture to this pizza.  It was cheesy, sweet and salty all at the same time!  Even though my boyfriend was skeptical about the grapes he ended up loving it.  Clearly he is learning to trust my culinary instincts.  He studied abroad in Italy and has had more pizza than most people have ever had in their lifetime so his approval means a lot!  I hope you too can enjoy pizza once again, lactose free! 

Recipe Details:

Ingredients

1/2 batch pizza dough (store bought or homemade)  
1/4 cup pizza sauce (to taste)
3 tablespoons pesto (to taste)
1 sweet italian sausage
1/2 block cheddar cheese (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup DIY Ricotta
30 grapes, halved
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove casing from the sausage and place into a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook sausage completely until and set aside.  Cut about 30 grapes in half and set aside.  Grate 1/2 a block of cheese (about 1 cup) and set aside.  Using half a batch of dough, roll out to desired thickness.  Top the dough with 1/4 cup sauce on one side and 3 tablespoons of pesto on the other.  Double sauce or pesto if only using one topping.  Sprinkle cheddar cheese coating evenly on top.  Add the grapes and sausage, distributing throughout.  Add clumps of ricotta on pizza as desired.  Finish with salt and pepper to taste.

Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until crust is cooked and golden brown.  Allow to cool.  Once cooled it is ready to serve!