My husband and I are former Chicagoans. We grew up there and raised our kids there, before moving to Tennessee. We love everything about Tennessee, but we must admit, the food is nothing like Chicago.

Chicago is a melting pot of ethnicity and that is something that Nashville is lacking. In the Chicagoland area there are hundreds of places to get good pizza. In Nashville and the surrounding area, we have only found one. And guess what – they are former Chicagoans.

The days of ordering a pizza on a busy night are over for us – at least until someone opens a good pizza place nearby. Thankfully, we are good cooks so when we can’t order a pizza, we are able to make our own.

And just to clarify for those who are not Chicagoans, not all Chicago pizza is deep dish. While that is yummy, 90% of the pizza that Chicagoans eat is tavern style – thin crust (although not as thin as New York style) and cut into squares. Chicagoans do not fold their pizza to eat it. And you only use a knife and fork for deep dish.

While I would love to tell you that I make my own pizza dough, that would be a lie. Making dough is too closely related to baking and that is not my strong suit. We buy premade dough in the deli section of the local grocery store. I do roll it out myself so it feels homemade.

The great thing about homemade pizza is that you can put whatever you want on it. For this post, I will share what we did.

Ingredients:

Pizza dough (homemade or store-bought)

Pizza sauce (we used Contadina and doctored it up)

8oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

Two bell peppers, cut into bite sized pieces

1 Bulb of garlic

1 lbs of mild Italian sausage, not in a casing

1-2 tbsp of olive oil

1 tbsp of cornmeal

1 tbsp of fennel seed

1 tbsp of dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

How it’s made:

First, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Roll out your pizza dough to fit the size of your pan. I used a pizza stone. Before placing the dough on the pan, I sprinkle the cornmeal over the surface of the dough. Turn that side down on the pizza stone. It’s really optional. It is something they did in our local pizza place in Chicago.

When the dough is in place, brush the olive oil evenly over the dough. Poke the dough all over with a fork to help with the bubbles.

Place in the oven for 10 minutes.

While the dough is cooking, cut up the green peppers and garlic into bite sized pieces. (Yes, a whole bulb is a lot of garlic for some.) Sauté the vegetables in olive oil for about 5 minutes.

In another pan, add the sausage and fennel and break up into smaller chunks as it browns. I do not cook it all the way through, but I use the pan to get a head start. Cook about 3 minutes.

When dough comes out of the oven, it will be slightly browned. Place on workspace.

Add a generous amount of sauce – we use the whole bottle – and sprinkle the oregano, salt and pepper on top. I am still working on my sauce so stay tuned for any changes. The bottle sauce is a little thinner than I like so I need to work on my own.

Evenly distribute the vegetables and sausage over the pizza sauce.

Top with the mozzarella cheese.

Place in the oven for 10 more minutes or until cheese is slightly browned.

Cut into squares and serve (without flatware). Goes great with an IPA or a Pinot Noir. Enjoy!

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