The year was 2001. Grade 9 French class. Ste. Anne’s High School in Tecumseh, Ontario. We were asked to do a presentation on our heritage consisting of proper dress, music and prepare a dish for the class. My love for pizza blossomed at this very moment. A classmate of mine (for the life of me I can’t remember who) made an ooey gooey, creamy, savory, salty, potato pizza family recipe for the class. I was in heaven. That same night, I made my mom take me to the grocery store to get all the ingredients so we could try to replicate this pizza. I was hooked. I know you’re thinking, ‘Andrea, what did YOU make for the class?’ and I have to tell you, I was so transfixed by this pizza that I wondering the same thing myself – absolutely no clue.

Now, this isn’t the exact recipe from class that day, just a different variation on a delicious potato pizza. As much as I would like to say I made the dough myself, I didn’t. You can find it frozen in the supermarket or a better option is to go to your local pizzeria and ask to buy a ball of dough (that’s what I did). As you can see, I need to take a class on how to form the dough into a round pizza shape, but hey, it still tasted great! It’s salty, it’s cheesy, it’s spicy, it’s crispy, it’s creamy – what more could you want from a pizza?

Yield: Makes 2 small pizzas

Ingredients:

• 1 large ball of pizza dough (I split it in half to make 2 small)
• 1 Idaho potato, peeled and very thinly sliced
• ½ bulb of fennel (just white part), very thinly sliced
• 1 sweet sausage link, casing removed (omit if vegetarian – just as good)
• ½ cup gruyere cheese, grated
• ½ cup fontina cheese, grated
• 1 tsp parmesan cheese for sauce + 1 tbsp for pizza topping
• ¼ tsp caraway seeds
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp flour
• ¼ cup half & half
• ¼ cup milk
• pinch of red chili flakes (optional)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• about ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley for garnish
• 1 tbsp oil for cooking sausage

Preparation:

Start by bringing a pot of water to a boil and preheating the oven to 475°. Boil the fennel just until slightly tender, about 3 minutes. Drain and set aside while we prepare everything else.

Heat a sauté pan on medium-high heat and add the oil to cook the sausage. Add the sausage and crumble with a wooden spoon while cooking. Cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Remove the sausage and set aside. In the same pan, add in the butter, flour, chili flakes and whisk until a nice golden roux forms, 2-3 minutes. Turn the heat to medium-low and whisk in the milk and cream until the clumps are gone. Add in the bay leaf, smashed garlic clove, nutmeg, salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon of parmesan cheese. Consistently, gently whisk and bring to a low boil. Turn heat to low and let the béchamel sauce simmer for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, sprinkle the caraway seeds onto the pizza dough and press into the dough, so they don’t roll around. Bake the pizza dough in the oven for 3-4 minutes just to start crisping the crust and releasing the caraway flavour (you can skip this step if you are making a thin crust pizza). Remove from the oven and spread the white sauce on the dough. Next, add the gruyere and fontina cheese, then the potatoes, then the fennel, followed by the leftover parmesan cheese and sausage. Bake the pizza in the oven for about 12-15 minutes, just until the cheese and crust are turning a nice golden colour. Top with chopped parsley and serve.