Deep-Dish Sausage Patty Pizza Recipe

A Pillsbury.com recipe

Today I'm posting Pizza #3 in honor of National Pizza Week.

All I can say is thank God for cast-iron skillets. I love them! I cook most everything in a cast-iron skillet and it's always my first choice when I'm making a deep dish pizza too. Now you can use any kind of skillet you want for deep dish pizza but once you've tried cast-iron for pizza you won't go back to a regular skillet again.

Now let's talk about this recipe.
Sausage Patty Pizza: I think this was a winning recipe at a bake off contest at Pillsbury. I don't remember what year but it seems like it was just a couple of years ago.  My siter-in-law makes this exactly by the recipe because her kids really love sausage and since this pizza has a big sausage patty layer it's perfect for die-hard sausage lovers. For me.... I love deep-dish pizza made this way but I tend to only use half the sausage the recipe calls for. What can I say.... sausage doesn't like me as much as it use to. Do you know the way to heart-burn city?  I do remember when I could devour slice after slice without needing a whole bottle of tums. Ahhh those were the days. :)


INGREDIENTS:

Sauce

2 tablespoons Crisco® 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Pure Olive Oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes, drained, 1/2 cup juice reserved and tomatoes coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 dried bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 or 3 dashes pepper

Pizza

1 lb bulk sweet Italian pork sausage
2 tablespoons Crisco® 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Pure Olive Oil
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 can (13.8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated classic pizza crust
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (1 lb)
2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 400°F. In 2-quart saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook about 4 minutes, stirring constantly, until onion is tender. Stir in tomatoes, basil, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer uncovered 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in reserved tomato juice. (Sauce should be thick.) Remove and discard bay leaf.

2. Meanwhile, spray 12-inch skillet with Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray. Spread sausage over bottom of skillet into large patty. Cook over medium-high heat 5 to 8 minutes on each side, turning once, until no longer pink in center. (If necessary, cut patty in half or into quarters to turn.)

3. Coat bottom and side of 12-inch cast-iron skillet or other ovenproof skillet with 1 tablespoon oil; sprinkle with cornmeal. Unroll pizza crust dough in skillet; press on bottom and at least halfway up side. Brush dough with remaining 1 tablespoon oil; prick bottom and sides of dough with fork. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over dough. Top with sausage patty, keeping patty in one piece.

4. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until crust is light golden brown. Spread sauce over sausage. Bake 5 to 10 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.