Brussels Sprouts Pizza

On many of the days I don’t have my son in my care (he goes to preschool twice a week, which is integral to his social skills and my sanity) I head over to a coffee shop near campus and pound away at the keyboard. There are myriad coffee shops in Austin, and I’m picky about which ones I will visit in order to get work done. The one I like most, I picked because they not only have lots of tables and outlets, but because they serve up breakfast tacos in the morning and pizza for the afternoons. No matter how good the coffee is, if I can’t get a good lunch while I’m working, I won’t want to stay for long.

The pizza I had last time had spinach, bacon, and pear, and I felt like it was a revelation. Somehow, the spinach immediately led me to Brussels sprouts, and I knew I had a plan for the pint of sprouts waiting to be gobbled up.

Ever since I was introduced to roasted Brussels sprouts a few years ago I’ve looked forward to their season, and I even have a couple of slowly growing plants in my raised bed garden. It’s never been a problem finishing a pint, but I still love to try out new combinations.

Admittedly, this pizza requires a bit more work than the standard pepperoni pie, but I think it’s worth it. I didn’t designate what kind of cheese to use for this pizza, although I used smoked mozzarella on mine. I asked my Twitter followers for cheese recommendations based on the other pizza toppings, and I received at least ten different suggestions – so I have a feeling you can’t go much wrong when it comes to the cheese on this pizza.

Brussels Sprouts Pizza

makes 1 pizza

1 pizza dough of your choice
1 small onion
8 ounces Brussels sprouts
1-2 slices thick-cut bacon
1 pear
Olive oil
1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If you have a pizza stone, make sure it is in the oven while preheating – you want it nice and hot!
Slice onion in half and then into long strips, and cook over medium-low to low in a small saucepan, stirring often. You want them to be nicely browned, but not completely caramelized (remember, they will cook more in the oven).
In a frying pan, cook bacon until crispy. Meanwhile, trim ends off Brussels sprouts and then slice lengthwise into 3 or 4 pieces, depending on the size of the sprout. Once the bacon has cooked, remove it to drain on a paper towel, and add sprouts to the bacon fat. Cook 2-3 minutes, until sprouts are bright green. Remove from heat.
Peel and core pear, then slice thinly.
Roll out pizza dough. Add a light drizzle of olive oil to the top of the dough, being careful to not get too close to the edge (if oil leaks off pizza, it might burn on your pizza stove and make your fire alarm go off).
Arrange pear slices on dough, then scatter sprouts, bacon, and onions on top. Sprinkle on shredded cheese.
Bake for about 10 minutes, until crust has browned. Let cool on pizza stone for 5 minutes before cutting.

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