How to Recipe: Create an Autumn Chicken Basil Sausage with Eggplant Sauce Pizza

The inspiration came from a friend looking for something different for his football party. He came up with this chicken basil sausage and eggplant pizza. The recipe is pretty easy, although a little time consuming. Allow at least an hour to prepare the dough and the sauce. The end result is a delicious pizza pie that is a cheesy harmony of sweet, spicy and meaty. This recipe calls for a pizza stone, they are usually inexpensive and found in the kitchen section of many stores for about $12.00. They create a crispy crust by removing moisture and distributing the heat evenly across the bottom. This is important here because the sauce tends to be on the wet side. Extra baking time may be required, so keep an eye on it. Chicken-basil sausage is pre-made and can usually be found in the grocery store. Other flavored sausage may be substituted.

Ingredients:

1 packet yeast

1 tbs sugar or honey

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

16 ounce jar of spaghetti sauce

2 small onions

1 small package mushrooms

1 eggplant

1 pound block mozzarella cheese

1 small can olives

1 small can jalapeno peppers

1 tomato sliced

1 pound chicken basil sausage

Preheat the pizza stone to 450 degrees by placing in a cold oven and then turning on.

Crust:

Place sugar and yeast in one cup of warm water, stir and let sit for about 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix the flower, and salt. Add yeast mixture. Rub with olive oil and set in a warm place for about 30 minutes. Punch down and let rise a second time. Knead the dough well. Toss some flour or corn meal on the cutting board and roll out the dough to about 10". Optional: sprinkle a pinch of favorite herbs such as basil, rosemary or parsley on top of the dough adding a hint of flavor to the cooked crust.

Sauce:

Chop the onions into small chunky pieces and slice the mushrooms width-wise. In a large skillet saute onions and mushrooms with butter or oil. Add eggplant and sliced chicken sausage and spaghetti sauce. Simmer for about an hour or until eggplant is softened.The eggplant will absorb all of the flavors.

Pizza assembly:

Grate the cheese. Add plenty of cornmeal on top of the warmed pizza stone and place the dough on the stone. Add the eggplant sauce. Distribute olives, tomatoes, jalapenos and cheese evenly across the pie. Bake for about twenty minutes or until the cheese becomes bubbly and the crust is golden brown. Check after fifteen minutes. Let rest at least 5 minutes before serving.