Apple and Sausage Pizza with Pumpkin Beer Sauce

Apple and Sausage Pizza with Pumpkin Beer Sauce

Have you ever had the pleasure of enjoying the positively delightful combination of fresh, crisp apples with sharp cheddar cheese?  If you have, you're probably already drooling because that combination is just that good.  Now imagine adding sweet Italian sausage, slivered mushrooms and wilted spinach.  Oh, and don't forget the mustard/ pumpkin beer sauce that goes on top.  Did I mention all of these incredibly amazing flavors are all sitting on top of a whole wheat pizza crust and then fancied up a bit with a splash of fresh chopped parsley?  Have I got your attention now?

The inspiration for this dish came from a happy reunion between me and my pizza stone.  I had to throw away my last pizza stone because it was way past its prime and starting to show its age via blotchy stains from many pizza's past.  I had been without one for a while and I had missed it.  So in a tizzy of pizza ambition, I got myself a new pizza stone and couldn't wait to whip it out and break it in.  Wanting to opt for something out of the norm, I created this little concoction of fall flavors that work together oh so perfectly I wondered why I hadn't thought of this combination before.

Apples and Sausage and Pumpkin Beer Sauce...oh my!

Apple Sausage Pizza with Pumpkin Beer Sauce
- 1 store bought ball of fresh whole wheat pizza dough
- Some flour for rolling out the dough
- Cornmeal for the bottom of the pizza so it doesn't stick
- 2 links of sweet Italian sausage (I used turkey sausage here)
- 1 small apple, sliced thin
- 5-6 mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
- A couple giant handfuls of spinach
- About a cup of cheese (I used a mix of mozzarella and cheddar)
- About a cup of pumpkin beer
- About two tablespoons of coarse grain mustard
- About 1 tbs creme fraiche (or sour cream would work as well)
- Fresh ground pepper
 - Parsley for garnish (optional)

Put the pizza stone into the oven and set it 450 degrees.  (Make sure the oven is cool when you put the pizza stone in, otherwise you run the risk of it cracking) Start by removing the casings on the sausage and brown them up in a pot.  Remove the sausage and add the beer.  Let it reduce by half and then add the mustard and black pepper.  Let the sauce cool a bit and add the creme fraiche.  In another pot, wilt down the spinach until it is just wilted.  Meanwhile by rolling out the pizza dough into some flour until it's evenly thin.  Top it with spinach, mushrooms, sausage and cheese.  Top with drizzles of the beer/mustard sauce and the slices of apple.  Put some cornmeal onto the pizza stone and carefully slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone.  Bake for about 15 minutes until the crust starts to brown and the cheese bubbles.