What's For Dinner Wednesday: Pesto Pizza with Sausage, Goat Cheese, and Caramelized Onions

When I was in high school a cute little Italian restaurant called Martino's opened up down the street from our house and it quickly became my family's go to restaurant.  They served really delicious and creative pastas and brick oven pizzas, which was a big deal in our tiny town which was made up of mostly mom and pop diners, pizza joints, and pubs.  Our favorite item on the menu was a pesto pizza.  It's a fairly simple preparation (especially if you cheat and buy a premade pizza crust and prepared pesto like me), but the flavors are so great together.  Martino's has been closed for a few years now, but we continue to make this pizza over and over at my parents' house and now at mine too!

Ingredients 

• 1/2 large Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 Tbs. unsalted butter
• Salt
• 1 pizza crust *Sorry, I didn't make this homemade!
• 4 oz. reduced fat pesto sauce
• 8 oz. crumbled goat cheese
• 1 Italian turkey sausage link, casing removed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Heat a pan over medium heat and add butter.  Once melted, add onions and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, until the onions are soft and slightly browned, about 10 minutes.  Remove onions from heat and set aside.

In a separate pan over medium high heat, add sausage and break up into small pieces, stirring frequently.  Cook until sausage becomes browned and slightly crispy, about 8 minutes.  Transfer cooked sausage to a paper towel to cool.

Spread pesto on pizza crust, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edges.  Sprinkle half the goat cheese evenly over the pizza crust and top with onions and sausage.  Sprinkle remaining goat cheese on top and bake for 10-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese begins to melt.