Beyond brand italian sausage, spinach, and mushroom pizza

Lunch
Dinner
Vegitarian

My Thoughts

This was really an experiment with the new "fake" meats. I have to say I was really impressed with the Beyond Italian sausage, particularly when making pizza. It isn't as greasy as the pork version so the crust does not get as soggy and the taste and texture is pretty much spot-on when it is broken up on a pizza (or on a hoagie with some nice mustard but that's another recipe). The rest of the pizza is pretty much self explanatory, but it is nice to know that you can get a vegetarian pizza with the taste of the full meat version.

The How To Do It

  1. Preheat your oven to 550° (that's as high as mine goes, if you's goes higher feel free).
  2. Meanwhile, brown the sausage links in a small skillet (at this time there were no just ground version, that may have changed).
  3. Let the links cool and chop them up once they are cool enough to handle (don't burn yourself).
  4. Also, while the oven is heating up, slice the mushrooms as thinly as possible.
  5. Also, grate the cheeses. You'll want to grate the cheeses instead of using the pre-shredded/pre-grated kind because there are chemicals in the bagged kind to keep it from clumping, which also keeps it from melting as smoothly. If you go the bagged route, it's not a big deal, but it's not quite as good. Okay I cheat and use the bagged stuff for the mozzarella. I really don't like grating my knuckles along with the cheese, and that always seems to happen with mozzarella. The provolone is easier to grate and gives it back some of it's stringiness.
  6. Chop the basil.
  7. Spray a pizza pan, baking sheet, or whatever you are planning on putting the pizza on to bake it with nonstick cooking spray.
  8. Either place the dough on the pan (if you're using the already rolled out kind which I do) or roll out your dough and place it on the pan. I don't make my own. Sometimes I'm lazy.
  9. Roll the edge of the pizza dough over on itself and pinch it so it stays rolled (completely optional).
  10. Ladle in some of the Vodka Cream Sauce (or your favorite jarred pizza sauce from the store - I'm not judging) and spread it evenly around the dough. Be sure not to over sauce it. It usually takes 1 1/2 to 2 ladle fulls, but this will vary on how large your dough is.
  11. Slide the dough in the oven (no I didn't get ahead of myself) and let it back for 2 1/2 - 3 minutes. This allows the dough to partially cook before the other wet ingredients get added.
  12. Pull the dough from the oven and add half of the Parmesan cheese and all of the mozzarella and provolone.
  13. Sprinkle the spinach over the pizza. You don't really have to worry about chopping it up. It's going to wilt and shrink during the bake.
  14. Sprinkle the Beyond sausage and mushrooms over the pizza and add the rest of the Parmesan cheese (you can reserve some for the pizza once it is finished baking).
  15. Bake the pizza for 5-7 minutes. The cheese should be bubbling and the edges of the crust should be golden brown.
  16. Let the pie cool for about 5 minutes (it's going to be like molten lava when it first comes out).
  17. Slice and serve!

Vodka Cream Sauce

  1. Heat a medium to large saucepan over high heat.
  2. Add the onions to the pan and cook for 5-10 minutes, or until they start to turn translucent.
  3. Next add the garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Don't let the garlic start to brown. It will get bitter if it browns too much.
  4. Add the vodka and let it cook down until it is reduced by about half. You'll notice the oil/vodka/vegetable mixture will thicken as well.
  5. Add the can of tomatoes and reduce the heat to low-medium.
  6. Next using an immersion blend, blend the sauce until it is the consistency you want (and if you like it chunky skip this step all together). I use an immersion blender because I don't like transferring the contents of a very hot pot to a blender and then back again. You could use a traditional blender but be very careful. Wearing almost boiling tomato sauce is not my idea of a good time.
  7. Next add the dry ingredients, the honey, and half of the chopped basil.
  8. Now add the cream and all but roughly a tablespoon of the Parmesan cheese.
  9. Let the sauce simmer for 20-30 minutes. If you like, you can go lower on the heat and have it barely simmering. This will allow some of the moisture to cook off and the flavors to intensify, but for the most part after about 20 minutes the flavor is there.
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Ingredients

Beyond brand italian sausage, spinach, and mushroom pizza
1 dough
pizza dough
½ lbs
Beyond Italian sausage
¼ cup
mozzarella
¼ cup
provolone
¼ cup
Parmesan
1 cup
baby spinach
¼ cup
baby portobella mushrooms
2 tbsp
sweet basil
Vodka cream sauce
1 onion
white onion
4 cloves
garlic
28 ozs
crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
1 tbsp
granulated garlic
¼ cup
vodka
1 tsp
onion powder
½ tsp
smoked paprika
¼ tsp
cayenne pepper
*or less
1 pinch
dried oregano
*about 1/4 teaspoon
½ cup
Parmesan
¾ cup
heavy cream
½ tsp
kosher salt
½ tsp
black pepper
½ cup
sweet basil
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