Brussels Sprouts & Goat Cheese on Pizza? Oh yea!

I've been wanting to try this recipe for a while.  Dave and I love Brussels sprouts.  Very rarely does a week go by when we don't have them at least once.  Generally we roast them but I've been known to fry them and put them on a Caesar salad (thank you Alex Guarneschelli) or saute them with some bacon and onions then toss them with blue cheese.  So when I saw a recipe for Brussels sprouts with goat cheese on pizza, well it sounded pretty good to me.

Yes, this was another Pinterest find.  Here is a link to the original recipe on the Love and Olive Oil blog site.
Goat Cheese & Brussels Sprout Skillet Pizza

First you make the pizza dough so don't think you're going to whip this up in 30 minutes, the dough does need an hour and a half or so to rise.  However... if you are like me and you have a tub of pizza dough in your refrigerator already (thank you Artisan Pizza & Flatbread in 5 Minutes a Day), I bet that would work just fine!  In fact, next time I make this (and there will be a next time) I'm going to use that dough.

I did make the dough this time.  I used my favorite basil infused olive oil from The Olive Grove Olive Oil Company both in the dough and on it.  The dough smelled so good!

I shaped the dough on my pizza peel before placing it in the skillet.  I love my Lodge cast iron skillet.  The edges are tall so I can do a lot more in it than I can in a regular frying pan.  The recipe said to add the tomatoes and cheese and then put the dough in the skillet.  I didn't want to make a mess so I put the dough in the skillet then added the tomatoes and cheese.

Into the oven this goes for a few minutes to get the cheese all melty.  Once the cheese melts, the Brussels sprouts, bacon and goat cheese are added.  If you read the recipe above, you'll note the recipe calls for pancetta.  I had bacon in the house so I used bacon.  I'm sure pancetta would be delicious as well.

Pop this back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so and out comes this beautiful dish!  I love the smell of roasting Brussels sprouts and I think when the leaves are toasted like this they are especially good.  They almost taste like popcorn!

The recipe said to wait 5 or 10 minutes before slicing and eating.  We could only wait 5, we were hungry!

This is delicious pizza.  The dough gets a nice crispy crust that stays crispy.  The first piece I ate was as crisp as the last (yes I ate more than one!).  There is great flavor in the dough as well, though I think for me that was partly because of the basil infused oil I used.  The tang of the goat cheese with the smoky of the bacon and the earthy Brussels sprouts was, in my opinion (and Dave's) a most excellent combination!

We'll definitely make this again... and again... and again... I bet I could even do it on the grill this summer!