Sausage and Fig Pizza

I came across this recipe for Sausage Fig Pizza on lbroukscooks a few weeks ago and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to try it out. Last night Brady and I decided to make dinner but didn't want to make anything too labor intensive so we thought we would give this a try. Neither of us were to sure whether or not we even liked figs but it's pretty hard to go wrong when sausage and cheese are involved. I was a bit concerned whether or not we would be able to find figs but apparently they are in season and as luck would have it we found them on sale. This pizza ended up being amazing! The combination of the slight sweetness of the figs and the pomegranate-cumin dressing, the spicy chicken sausage and the creamy fontina cheese was absolutely perfect.

  











Sausage and Fig Pizza
 ** adapted from lbroukscooks
Serves 4

for the pizza:
1 pound freshly prepared or packaged pizza dough- I recommend Trader Joe's Whole Wheat or Pillsbury
pomegranate-cumin dressing (see below)
3/4 cup fontina cheese, cut into pieces
3 links chicken sausage, cut crosswise (any variety)
6 fresh figs, quartered
1/2 cup grated parmesan
2 cups arugula

for the pomegranate-cumin dressing:
4 T. olive oil
4 1/2 T. white balsamic or champagne vinegar
3 T. chopped fresh mint leaves
1 1/2 T. pomegranate molasses*
1 T. ground cumin

* If you are unable to find pomegranate molasses (which we were not able to find), you can boil 1 cup pomegranate juice until it reduces to about 3 T. This will take about 15-20 minutes.  Be careful not to reduce it too far or it will become too thick.

Whisk all of the dressing ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and set aside.  This recipe will make about 1 cup which is more than you need for the pizza.  Leftovers can be stored in the fridge or disgarded.

Preheat oven to 450. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.  Press the dough evenly into the pan, about 1/2 inch thick.  Brush evenly with the dressing.  Top dough with fontina, sausage, and figs so that the crust is evenly covered.  Drizzle with more of the dressing.  Bake until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, and sprinkle evenly with the arugula and parmesan.  Return the pizza to the oven for 2-3 minutes, until the arugula wilts and the parmesan is melted and golden.