BBQ Italian Sausage & Mushroom Pizza

Hi everyone, Nelson here again today. Liz has been extra busy lately and I’m enjoying this writing thing, so here I am again.

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that it’s finally really feeling like summer out there. It’s making us happy! To top off our happiness, last weekend we had a long weekend–it was the Victoria Day holiday in Canada, also known as May two-four! For our non-Canadian friends, this is the weekend where most Canadians BBQ, do gardening, open their cottages, host parties, picnic, etc. It’s kind of our kick-off to summer.

We took advantage of our “May two-four” to setup the canopy on our gazebo, wash and setup our patio furniture, cleanup the garage and give our lawn some tender loving care. That was the Saturday. The remainder of the weekend was for chilling and of course, eating!

I hadn’t made pizza on the BBQ in what felt like ages and we happened to have some left-over sausages at home from a previous BBQ. I’ve made pizza at home for years, but pizza on the BBQ is something I only started doing a couple of years ago. The hot BBQ with a pizza stone is really nice because it replicates the the wood-burning oven experience. I love the toasted edges of the dough and how the bottom of the pizza colours nicely on the stone. I’ll still make pizza in the oven , but when the weather’s good, I prefer the BBQ version. I’ve made a few of these with different toppings and they’ve all turned out nicely. One of the great things about pizza (and there are many) is that you can use leftovers as toppings. Check out our pizza dough and Nonna approved tomato sauce recipes for the complete home-made experience.

Got leftover chicken? Maybe some sausages? Veggies? May we suggest…pizza. Oh ya, and eat well friends!

BBQ Italian Sausage & Mushroom Pizza

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

24 mins

Total time

39 mins

 

This simple Italian sausage and mushroom pizza can be made on the BBQ or in the oven. It's easy to make and tastes delicious.

Author: Nelson Cardoso

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: North American

Serves: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 pizza dough for two small pizzas (use our dough recipe or purchase from a bakery or grocery store)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½ tsp course sea salt
• 1 cup tomato sauce (use our nonna approved tomato sauce or other favourite tomato sauce)
• 4 tsp grated parmesan cheese
• 10.6 oz or 300 g shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 Italian sausages bbq'd or roasted in the oven and cut in thin diagonal slices
• 6 oz crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 20 small basil leaves
• Flour for dusting
• Cornmeal for the pizza peel not to stick

Instructions

1. Preheat your BBQ to around 450 ºF, lid closed.
2. Place a large pizza stone in the middle.
3. If you have a three or four burner BBQ, reduce the middle 1 or 2 burners to low.
4. If you're using refrigerated dough, take it our about 30 minutes before rolling it. Remove it from any plastic bag and place it on a dusting of flour.
5. Divide the dough in half.
6. Dust a large working surface.
7. Place the first ball of dough on the flour. (set the second dough aside also on a dusting a flour).
8. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough, occasionally changing the rolling direction in order to form a circle (this doesn't have to be a perfect circle).
9. Unsure your circle doesn't exceed the size of the pizza peel or the stone you're heating up in the BBQ.
10. Once the dough is the right side, sprinkle a generous amount of cornmeal over the pizza peel and transfer the dough onto the pizza peel.
11. Now lift the pizza peel and give it a couple of good shakes back and forth to ensure the dough can slide easily on the peel without sticking. If it sticks, lift the sticky side and add more cornmeal.
12. Sprinkle about half the oil evenly over the rolled dough and use a pastry brush to brush the oil all around.
13. Sprinkle about half the salt over the dough, making sure not to leave to much on any one spot.
14. Using a large spoon, spread half the tomato sauce evenly around the rolled dough.
15. Sprinkle ½ the parmesan cheese evenly over the tomato sauce.
16. Spread the half the shredded mozzarella cheese evenly over the parmesan cheese.
17. Distribute half the sausage slices, mushrooms and basil leaves over the cheese.
18. Lift the pizza peel and carefully shake the dough back and fourth to ensure the dough is loose on the peel.
19. Open the BBQ lid and carefully slide the pizza dough onto the stone and close the lid.
20. Let the pizza dough bake for about 5 minutes.
21. Open the BBQ lid, rotate the pizza 180º on the stone using the peel or a large spatula. This will ensure the pizza cooks evenly if you have a hotter area in the BBQ. Close the lid.
22. Let the pizza cook another 7 minutes, open the lid and check the pizza. Lift the pizza on one side. The dough should have a nice light golden colour on the bottom. If this isn't the case, close the lid and let it cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Keep an eye on the heat to ensure it stays between 400 ºF and 500 ºF.
23. Slide the pizza peel under the pizza and transfer the pizza onto a cutting board.
24. Make the second pizza by repeating all the steps after dividing the dough.
25. Cut the pizzas and enjoy!

Notes

We wrote down 24 minutes for cook time because we could only fit one pizza in the BBQ. Since each pizza takes roughly 12 minutes, we doubles the cook time.


No pizza stone? No problem! Use the same recipe and make it in the oven at 450 ºF using a baking sheet. Don't pre-heat the baking sheet. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the dough on the parchment paper. Then add all the toppings and place the baking sheet in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

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