Cook: Autumn Sausage and Butternut Squash Pizza

For those of you who know me personally, and/or follow my blog - you're probably aware of my passion for pizza making. To make it easier for those who are interested to find other pizza recipes featured on the blog - I've created a new label "Cook - Pizza".  The story behind this week's pizza recipe is that there was a pizza shop, Corner Grille, that J and I used to frequent when we lived in Worcester, MA.  They had this fabulous sausage and squash pizza that I loved, and since I haven't been able to find this combo anywhere in LA, I had to figure out how to make it myself.  It's not exactly the same as Corner Grille's, but if I can say so myself, this pizza is quite delicious!!!  

Ingredients: (makes one large pizza) - serves 2-3 hearty appetites

• 1/2 package trader joe's regular pizza dough - (we like our crust on the thin side)
• 1 package trader joe's pre cut butternut squash (I think it was 8 oz)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp sea salt and 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3 sweet italian sausage links (casings removed) - approx 1/2 lb
• crumbled feta cheese
• mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. In a medium sized bowl, toss squash with olive oil, brown sugar, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, red pepper flakes.  Place squash on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until squash is tender.  
2. While the butternut squash is cooking, brown the sausage in a frying pan, drain and set aside
3. Place pizza stone in oven, preheat oven to 500F 
4. Roll out the pizza dough to desired thickness. Cover with a layer of mozzarella cheese.  Sprinkle some feta over the mozzarella.  Sprinkle the sausage bits and squash on top.  
5. Transfer pizza using pizza peel (makes it so much easier!) to oven and bake for 8-10 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly.

Serve with a nice green salad (check out - "Cook - Salad" label for some options. I'll post another salad recipe later this week!)