Sausage and Egg Pizza - Fundamentally Delicious
I know what some of you are thinking. Eggs are for breakfast, and pizza is for dinner, and never the twain shall meet. I used to think like that. There was a time, early in my career, when I was a culinary fundamentalist. Chocolate was a candy, and not something one added to a sauce for short ribs (see post below). But, like all fundamentalists, I was missing out on a lot of pleasure. So, if your rigid belief system prevents you from giving this pizza a spin, then it's your loss. This is a truly magnificent pizza.
I first saw pizza topped with eggs in the Chez Panisse Café cookbook. Alice Waters, the chef of Chez Panisse, and one of my personal heroes, used eggs to top a similar pizza using proscuitto instead of sausage. I decided to try it, and it was a transcendent experience. The golden yolks oozing slowly over the spicy sausage and melted cheese is TDF (to die for). I hope you give this a try. Which reminds me to warn you that it may take a few tries to achieve the perfectly cooked eggs. But, when you do, there is bliss. Enjoy.
Ingredients:
- pizza dough (enough for 1 large pizza), brought to room temperature
- 2 tbsp cornmeal
- 3/4 cup pizza sauce
- red pepper flakes (optional)
- 6-oz shredded fontina cheese (may substitute mozzarella, or Monterey Jack)
- 6-oz hot or mild Italian sausage, sliced, cooked, drained
- 4 whole eggs
- black pepper, to taste
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
- baby arugula, washed and dried
- olive oil