What’s For Dinner?! Fig and Sausage Pizza OR Salad!

I posted this recipe awhile back, but honestly til now it wasn’t the best time to make it.  Right now though, fresh figs are in season in the south and whether you have a neighbor like I do who’ll let you come pick them off of her tree, or you have to buy them at the store…get some and make the following.  It is so amazing that I crave it the rest of the year.

This is NOT hard.  I promise.  Don’t look at it and think it’s “too gourmet” for you either.  It’s not.  I really try to post things that are not complicated.  This recipe may sound different because most of us aren’t typically accustomed to cooking with an ingredient like figs, but I promise that it is amazing and a fun and easy way to try something new using fresh, in-season ingredients.  Lemme know what you think!

Here’s the really fun part.  Make salad one night from this and make the pizzas the next night for dinner.  So you get 2 amazing dinners from one time of real prep work…there’s a winner for the uninspired for sure!

Grilled Sausages with Figs and Mixed Greens

Ingredients
•6 fresh lamb sausages, spicy Italian sausages, or garlic sausages (i used mild Italian sausages that i crumbled and sauteed)
•4 1/2-inch-thick red onion slices
•10 tablespoons Pomegranate-Cumin Dressing, divided
•12 cups mixed greens ( i mixed spinach and arugula)
•3/4 cup crumbled soft fresh goat cheese
•6 fresh figs, halved
•1/4 cup (packed) sliced fresh mint leaves

Preparation
•There are 2 ways to do this.
Way 1) Prepare grill (medium-high heat). Brush sausages and onions with 3 tablespoons dressing; grill sausages until cooked, 15 minutes, and onions until charred, 10 minutes.
Way 2) Here’s where I did it differently.  The first time I made this I did it this way above that was suggested, but I honestly thought it harder and not as tasty.  The next time I made it and how I do it now, is to crumble and brown the sausage and caramelize the onions inside over the stove earlier in the day.  So by dinner time all I’m doing is rolling out the dough and assembling the pizza.  I think it tastes better this way too because it’s easier to bite and each bite is tastier with the crumbled sausage b/c it spreads around more easily.

Toss greens with remaining dressing; mound on plates. Slice 4 sausages (reserve 2 for pizza). Top greens with sausages, cheese, figs, and mint.

Dressing recipe

Pomegranate-Cumin Dressing
Makes about 1 cup 
Ingredients
•7 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
•4 1/2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
•3 tablespoons sliced fresh mint leaves
•1 1/2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
•1 tablespoon ground cumin
•6 tablespoons minced shallots

•INGREDIENT INFO
If you can’t find pomegranate molasses at the supermarket or a Middle Eastern store, make your own by boiling 1 cup pomegranate juice until reduced to 3 tablespoons syrup, about 15 minutes. (this is what i did and it was really easy.) And I made extra and froze it in 2 Tbsp portions in a silicone ice cube tray so I’d have the pomegranate molasses any time I wanted it.

Preparation
•Whisk first 5 ingredients in bowl. Mix in shallots; season with salt and pepper.

Fig and Sausage Pizza

Ingredients
•1 pound purchased fresh pizza dough
•5 tablespoons Pomegranate-Cumin Dressing, divided
•1 cup coarsely grated Fontina cheese
•Fresh arugula
•2 italian sausages, I actually remove the casing and crumble and brown them on the stove…easier and then there is sausage in every bite.
•6 fresh figs, quartered
•2 thin red onion slices, rings separated – I also caramelize onions on the stove too
•1 cup crumbled soft fresh goat cheese
Preparation
•Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Halve dough; roll to 10-inch rounds. Brush tops with some of dressing.
•Grill pizzas, seasoned side down, until golden on bottom, about 4 minutes. Turn pizzas over. Top with Fontina, arugula, sausages, figs, and onions. Drizzle with more dressing. Cover; grill until Fontina melts and pizza is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Top with goat cheese. Grill until goat cheese softens, about 1 minute.

Ok…hope that whets some appetites out there.  Does mine for sure!

– Logan