Full of bold Spanish flavours, this pizza uses Manchego cheese and Chorizo, combined with a bit of caramelized red onion. Finish with more cheese and arugula.
10inchpiece of cured Spanish-style chorizo sausage, pulled apart in to small chunks (** See note below)
2cupsManchego cheese, grated, plus more shaved for the garnish
Fresh baby arugula, for garnish
1lb.pizza dough, or your favourite homemade pizza dough
13oz.pizza sauce, or your favourite homemade pizza sauce
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Instructions
** Cured chorizo sausage is not fresh sausage. It has been cured and/or smoked and is semi-dried, like Kielbassa, so could be sliced up and eaten out of hand, if you liked. It is often found in the deli section of your grocery, in sweet or hot versions. Either one is fine, depending on your taste. Try to find one that isn't rock hard (should give a little if squeezed), or you'll have a heck of a time pulling it apart. If you can't find, you could use fresh chorizo sausage (often seen in the meat department, with other fresh sausages), but you would need to remove the sausage from the casing, crumble and pan fry a bit before adding to your pizza.
For the caramelized onions: In a frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and a bit of salt, then stir to coat. Cook over medium heat until onions start to soften. Reduce heat to medium low. Continue cooking and stirring for about 30 minutes more, adding a few tablespoons of water a couple of times and allowing it to cook off. This will help to soften the onions, as well as preventing the skillet from becoming too dry.
Once the onions have cooked for about 30 minutes and are quite soft, increase the heat to medium-high. Add the sugar, balsamic and a bit more salt and cook, stirring, until onions are browned and caramelized. Remove to a bowl and set aside or refrigerate until needed.
Preheat oven to 500° F. with rack 8 inches below broiler. If you are using a pizza stone, put it in the cold oven and allow to heat with the oven. Allow to pre-heat for about 30 minutes.
Assemble the pizzas: Flour a work surface. Divide the pizza dough into 2 or 4 equal parts (for 2 large or 4 small pizzas, as you like) and shape them. For each portion, start with the right side of the dough and pull it toward the center, then do the same with the left, then the top, then the bottom. (The order doesn't actually matter; what you want is four folds.) Shape each portion into a round and turn seam side down. Mold the dough into a neat circular mound. The mounds should not be sticky; if they are, dust with more flour.
Form dough into a rough circle. (I like to do this on a cornmeal sprinkled piece of parchment paper. Place parchment on to a baking sheet if you aren't using a pizza stone). Spread a generous layer of pizza sauce, the dot with caramelized onions. Scatter some crumbled chorizo on top, then top with some grated Manchego.
If using parchment, trim the parchment back very close to the edge of the pizza, so it won't burn in the oven. Place pizza on to pizza stone on the parchment. (Or place baking sheet in oven). Allow to cook for 5 minutes, then without opening the oven door, switch your oven to "Broil" and allow to cook 4-5 minutes longer, or until cooked, browned and bubbly.
Notes
Be sure to read the “Ingredient and Cook's Notes" (above the recipe card!), where I share more detailedtips, variations and substitution suggestions for this recipe!