Sausage & fennel pizza
on Aug 26, 2014, Updated Aug 19, 2022
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When I was a student in London, way back when, I had a fabulous time sharing a flat with a wonderful collection of people, some of whom I’m still good friends with today. It was a strange old rented place that I’m sure none of us would choose to live in now. There was a long almost institution-style corridor with, as I remember, 4 bedrooms leading off it, a small living room with an old couch that was stuck together with a sort of Velcro that meant it was always sliding apart, frayed carpets, a bath (no shower!) and … well, that was pretty much it. Oh, apart from the ‘pet mouse’ that we saw scurry in front of the TV and over to the gap between the wall and the floor a few times … eek!
I remember one particular week, a strange smell surfaced in the kitchen. It was an odour like nothing I’d ever encountered before, and got steadily worse each day. One of my house mates assured me that he had already thoroughly sifted through the contents of our fridge which was, shall we say, not the most ordered and well-maintained. After searching high and low for the source of the stink, we finally discovered that it was in fact emanating from the fridge – specifically from a large piece of steak that said house mate had shoved to the back and forgotten about. Let me tell you, that is a smell that I would like to NEVER let grace my nostrils again. Vile.
Sorry about the yucky little story there … but will it make you feel better if I tell you that I was considering telling you an even more disgusting one involving maggots but decided against it? No? Oh well, I tried. You’ll at least be happy to know that my fridge tends to be a little more ordered these days. On the other hand, don’t judge, but at the moment I have things sitting in there that could be in danger of heading down a similar stinky path to the aforementioned meat because I have no idea how to use them. There’s a half tin of coconut milk that is probably past its best and that I should really have frozen to use later, a couple of lemons that I’ve grated the zest from, a potato that I peeled and didn’t use today and a half roasted leg of lamb with all the trimmings.
Yup. Leftovers. Lots of them. Which I have nothing against (I know that quite a lot of people, curiously, won’t touch them), but I do often find it a challenge to use them all up before they spoil.
Having said all this, one lot of leftovers that I had absolutely no problem ‘repurposing’ a few days ago was the sausage and fennel ragu sauce that I made. This is unbelievably tasty served with pappardelle, toasted breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese, but as I was eating it this way it suddenly occurred to me how perfect it would be for an easy and super tasty pizza topping. Provided you’ve already got some homemade pizza dough in the freezer (highly recommended – the recipe I’ve included below is suggested by the lovely Sally of Sally’s Baking Addiction), this pizza takes absolutely no time at all to throw together.
Just a couple of little ‘pointers’ before you rush into the kitchen to make the next TWO nights’ meals (yes, two – sausage and fennel pappardelle followed by sausage and fennel pizza the next evening). I like my pizza thin and crispy, so the dough I made was enough for 5 (FIVE!) pizzas, four of which are currently hanging out in my freezer for our next pizza craving. I would also recommend adding some kind of ‘greenery’ to the top of your pizza along with your leftover ragu sauce and cheese – I sprinkled over chopped chives but I’m thinking that any other kind of fresh herb or rocket salad leaves would be just as great.
We really enjoyed this tasty pizza, and I hope you do, too. How do you feel about leftovers? Have you got any favourite ways to use them up? Any suggestions gratefully received!
Sausage & fennel pizza
Ingredients
For the ragu sauce (serve stirred through pappardelle pasta on the first night)
- olive oil
- one bulb of fennel, trimmed and chopped into small pieces
- 14 ounces best quality pork sausages
- 3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
- the leaves from about 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 cup red wine, a large wine glass or a third of a bottle
- 3 1/2 cups jar passata, pureed tomatoes
- salt and pepper
For the pizza (dough recipe ‘borrowed’ & slightly adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction – thanks, Sally!)
- 1 standard 0.25 ounces/7 gram packet of yeast
- 1 1/3 cups warm water
- 3 1/2 cups plain flour
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- for the topping: grated cheese of your choice, I used a pizza blend plus fresh chives or salad leaves or herbs
Instructions
For the ragu sauce
- Heat up about a tablespoon of olive oil in a wide heavy pan. Make a slit down the side of each sausage and squeeze the sausage meat into the pan. Cook for about 10 minutes, continually breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon.
- Add the fennel, fennel seeds and rosemary and cook for about another 5 minutes, stirring.
- Pour in the wine, passata and about 1 cup/200 ml water, then leave to simmer gently for about an hour. Add salt and pepper to taste.
For the pizza
- Pour the water into a large bowl and empty the packet of yeast into it. Leave for a couple of minutes to allow the yeast to dissolve.
- Add the flour, oil, salt and sugar and combine with a knife or wooden spoon. Bring together the dough with your hands and knead for a minute or two until elastic.
- Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for at least a couple of hours, then knead it again briefly to knock out some of the air.
- Divide into 5 equal-sized balls of dough. Freeze any you don't want to use immediately at this point. (I wrap each ball tightly in plastic wrap and put in a ziplock bag.) Leave the dough balls you do want to use immediately to rest for half an hour.
- Pre-heat your oven to hot (I set mine to 480F/250C). Stretch or roll out the dough pretty thinly (stretching is better but I can never do this!) and put onto a pizza stone or pizza or baking tray (pre-heat for best results), fairly quickly add your ragu topping and cheese and bake for about 10 minutes or until nicely browned and crisp.
- Top with your chives or other greens just before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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Oh does not like fennel much but I really, really do. In fact someone made some fennel and pork salami and that rocked.So of course I like the idea of this ragu stroke pizza topping.
Hmmm … I wonder if he could be converted?! The fennel goes so perfectly in this sauce and it really is a very mild taste that compliments the sausage perfectly. Maybe you could sneakily feed some to him and see how it goes … 😉
Eeek, I can only imagine how gross that smelled.
Fennel and sausage are a fantastic combination, one of my favorites. On a pizza!!!! Yes please
So glad you like it, Kathy!! 🙂
haha what a stinky story! 🙂 I can’t stand when weird odors are coming from my fridge or even garbage. Yuck!
This pizza sounds amazing! It’s been a few weeks since I’ve made pizza at home – I need to get on it!
Yeah … sorry about that! A bit gross for a food blog!
I’ve been making homemade pizza regularly recently … my dough still varies but I’m getting there 🙂
I’m not going to lie, Helen, my college roommate and I had a similar fridge experience…the smell was nearly traumatizing! Love this pizza…I mean fennel on pizza? Why is this in every pizzeria? Sounds absolutely delicious!
So glad you like the idea of the fennel on a pizza, Denise. It’s pretty good, I have to say, especially with the strong taste of the sausage. Happy I’m not the only one to have such a horrible fridge experience, too!! 🙂
We are having pizza for supper tonight but not with leftovers. Left over pizza makes the best breakfast! We eat leftovers for lunch most days 🙂
Leftovers for lunch rock!! 🙂
Hi Helen! Well, I’ve never done the sausage and fennel combo, but yours looks lovely. I won’t pretend my pizza will look (or probably taste) anywhere as good as yours, but hey, I can try! Who doesn’t love pizza, I think I’d rather have pizza than chocolate. Ok, that’s a lie. It’s a tie. But a close tie! I love the idea of making my own dough. And for some reason, we have really good pizza here in Buffalo (like you can’t get bad pizza here) they say because of our water supply, something in the water makes it perfect. So I’m eager to try my hand at making my own dough.
Well, I have to admit that my success at dough-making varies … but it was still a revelation to me when I realised how easy it is to make your own! So glad you like this!
We NEVER cleaned our fridge in college…I’m sure I would be utterly disgusted if I peeked into it with today’s eyes! Your sauce AND pizza both look amazing!!!
Phew … glad I’m not the only one! Definitely wouldn’t like to go back to those days, though! 🙂
MMMMmmm MMMmmmm….. I’m totally not exaggerating when I say that I want to reach out to my computer screen and grab a largeeeeee slice of this pizza!!!!!! It looks AMAZINGGGG Helen!!!! I’m loving the fennel and sausage ragu sauce in this! Although we don’t eat pork at my house, I love chicken sausages! <3 SO I will be replacing it with that!!!! Leftovers can be soooo tricky sometimes and they end up going way past their expiry date! That reeking smell of beef must have been a horrible experience!!!!!
Chicken sausage would be absolutely fine, Samina. In fact I might try that next time! So glad I made you drool here! 🙂
This pizza sounds amazing, Helen! Love sausages and fennel- both flavours work really well! Definitely got to try your pizza recipe out!
Oh, please do, Jessica! This ragu sauce is one of my favourite quick recipes these days, and I love that you can put it on a pizza later 🙂
Helen, thank you for not sharing a maggot story. The smell of rotten meat is disgusting enough 😀 I do try to stay on top of what is in the refrigerator, but if something gets hidden and is going bad my nose knows right away. Yuck!
My guys are big on leftovers, so I have to work hard to repurpose foods. I love love this idea of using the ragu for a pizza.
Sorry to have disgusted you a bit, Cindy … I disgusted myself a bit … probably not the best kind of stories to tell on a food blog! Haha 🙂 Anyway, glad you approve of the pizza!!