Don't You Forget About My Delicious Caramelized Onion & Sausage Pizza

Now that we will all spend the rest of the day with flashbacks to The Breakfast Club in our heads, let me start this post by thanking all of you for sticking around.  I must apologize for the lag in posting, but I work a high stress day job and we've come into my busy time.  Meanwhile, Shorty has just been promoted at work (Yay, Shorty!!) and is taking on new responsibilities and demands.  We talked last night and both agreed to try and post more frequently.  With that being said Shorty and I have continued our game and have been cooking like crazy.  In addition, we've made several non-game related, but super delicious, dishes and we even had some special guests help out in the kitchen.  We love you guys so keep checking back with us.  There is a lot of fun, yum-tastic stuff coming your way.

Now lets get to cooking, because I'm starving!!!  Okay, at this point I am pretty sure that Shorty has put a curse on my dice. I got the Food Network, again, and while I watch it constantly, I would like a little diversity, otherwise I should just call this the Food Network Blog.  Um, yeah, no.  Scrumdeliocious is so much more Charlie and Chocolate Factory, which I love more (it's my favorite book ever) than Food Network.  Plus my mom just gave us some more cookbooks, which takes us up to 63 now!  Wowzers!  So anyway, Giada had a whole episode of Giada at Home that was devoted to the cheesy, bready, gooey goodness that is pizza.  All of the recipes sounded fantastic, but I opted to make her Caramelized Onion, Sausage, and Basil Pizza.  Pardon for a moment while I wipe the drool from my chin.  This was simple, fun to make, and most importantly...AMAZING!

Start by cutting up your onions.  I used two yellow onions and sliced them up loosely so that they were long onion pieces.  Put olive oil and butter in your pan and toss those onions in.  You will be crying your eyes out, but it will smell heavenly.  Speaking of crying here's a little music to listen to while your onions cook down. Ella Fitzgerald - Cry Me a River

Okay now that you're weeping like 30yr old fan boy who just found out that William Shatner won't be attending the local Star Trek convention, lets make a cocktail.  This lovely creation is a simple screwdriver (vodka and OJ) with frozen blueberries tossed in rather than ice.  YUM!  If you haven't tried frozen blueberries then I suggest you drive to the market and get some blueberries.  I don't care if it's 3am, there is a market somewhere that is open.  Buy them frozen if you fear freezing them yourself.  They pop in your mouth and texturally feel like luscious ice cream.

So while your onions caramelize away, lets turn to our pizza dough.  As you all know, I have made pizza dough from scratch on this site before, so you know I can do it.  With that in mind, I hope you will forgive me, because I am using the generic dough from Wal-Mart this time.  I just needed speed and, honestly, they ended up tasting about the same.  I'm actually quite a fan of "semi-homemade" cooking.  I do it all the time.  Lets be realistic here, often it's cheaper and, seriously, why reinvent the wheel every time you want something to eat.  Imagine, you've just come home from a long day and you want a certain dish, but you don't want to spend eight hours cooking it...so don't!  Replace as many parts with pre-made options as you can and you'll find soon that you're eating like a king/queen, but without the work and without the cost.  Plus, if you don't tell anyone you cut corner they will think you slaved away over a hot stove just for them and you can use that adulation to get the dishes done.  Yay!  Enjoy the little rewards!

Roll the dough out on a pan.  It doesn't have to be pretty unless you want it to be.  I'm sure it's probably the struggling artist in me trying to justify myself to the masses, but I personally think my abstract shapes are more fun than perfect squares or circles.  "This pizza is done in the style of Picasso.  See how the cubist shape forces the cheese to the forefront thus expressing the pain and sadness of being blue cheese in a world full of stinky cheese haters."  Set the flatten dough out and let it contemplate its inner being while we turn back to our onions.

Now that they are good caramelized you want to throw the sausage into the same pan.  I used Bratwurst and removed the skins.  Toss it in and break it up.  I tried to continually stir, as Giada suggested, but found it ended up cooking faster when I covered the dish and let the steam do its thing.  Don't forget to season with salt and pepper.  

Of course, we need a little more music to accompany us on.  So, following the theme of art, Picasso and the creation we are making, here is Josh Groban - Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) which is a tribute to the amazing Vincent Van Gogh.  I saw Van Gogh's Starry Night in person at the MOMA once and it was... breathtaking.  It's a large piece and you can see the paint sticking out from the canvas in thick mounds.  It was incredible.  Hmm, did I mention that I am the King of the Random Thought?  Well now you know. hehe

When the sausage is done (make sure there is no pink), set your mixture aside.  Now spread some olive oil all over your dough.  Hopefully this will help it feel better about its misshapen form. In this pizza olive oil will serve as your sauce.  Yup, you heard me.  There is no tomato or cheese sauce involved in this pizza.  I realize that I've just lost half of my audience with this statement, but trust me, the final product is sooooo good. Look how beautifully it glistens.  

Spread your onion/sausage mixture on the dough. I tried to give it an even coat so that no part of the dough felt exposed except for the edges.  I figured I had already put this poor dough through so much that I might as well hide its shame at being store bought.  Once you have everything nice and even, sprinkle on your cheese.  

You'll notice that we are using a type of blue cheese rather than the traditional "pizza cheese."  For those of you who are haters of anything beyond cheddar and mozzarella, please trust me again.  You stayed with me past the store bought dough revelation and the olive oil as sauce revelation so what's one more variation from the norm?  Right?  Hello?  Hey now you, yes you, the one with the big curly hair and flannel nightgown, I can see your mouse heading towards your favorites button!  Now just stop right there and hear me out.  Just because the cheese is stinky doesn't mean it is bad.  If that were the case there would be a lot of bad babies out there, because WHEW!  But babies aren't bad, well except for that one that threw a can of green beans at my head in Wal-Mart, but I guess he was technically a toddler at that point so, no, no babies aren't bad and neither is this cheese, if you just give it a chance.  Please???

Now into the oven our masterpiece goes and in a few agonizing minutes, we can eat it.  Look how delicious it looks up close.  Oh so good!  I must admit that I forgot to put on the basil, but it didn't need it in my opinion.  Okay so here's the breakdown, I think I would cook the crust a bit first before putting all the toppings on.  I found the center pieces to be a bit soft and saggy.  Otherwise it was incredibly delicious.  The flavors blended wonderfully, in fact, you couldn't even tell it was a stinky cheese.  Also, it reheats well so you can plan on some yummy leftovers and plenty of inquisitive coworkers when you take this in for lunch. 

Thank you again for sticking around during our posting lag and for seeing me through to the end of this random and chaotic post.  Perhaps I should drink fewer screwdrivers with blueberries before attempting to write these things...Nah!  I hope you've had some laughs, heard some good music, and learned a new, delicious recipe you'll try out.  I'll leave you with the song from this post's title  Simple Minds - Don't You Forget About Me.