If I had name one item which most commonly starts a dish made in my kitchen, it would be the onion. From the genus Allium, onions can be divided into two broad groups; spring/summer fresh onions and fall/winter storage onions. The former are bountiful at the farmers markets right now. Typically more delicate, milder and sweeter than storage onions, spring onions can be readily used raw in salads, or roasted/grilled to intensify their sweetness.

Recently, I have been oven-roasting spring onions to eat plain, in pasta dishes and on pizza. After a trip to the newly opened Alexandria West End Farmers Market and the Dupont Farmers Market on Sunday, I had some terrific ingredients on hand to make this pizza. I even made things simple by stopping by The Italian Store in Arlington to pick up frozen dough. Whether your ingredients are from the farmers market, or your grocery store, this pizza is easy to make and great for entertaining with friends. It would be a fun family meal to put together with the kids too.

To make pizza at home in your oven, it is very helpful to have a pizza stone. This will allow the pizza crust to cook on a surface that will not change temperature quickly when the oven is opened.

Italian Sausage, Roasted Spring Onion and Fresh Mozzarella Pizza

makes 2-10 inch pies

Ingredients

• pizza dough-thawed*
• 1 ball fresh  mozzarella cheese, sliced
• 3/4-1 lb. sweet or hot Italian bulk (uncased) sausage, cooked and drained of excess fat
• 6-8 spring onions, cleaned with green tips cut to fit roasting pan
• tomato or pizza sauce for pie topping
• olive oil
• kosher salt and pepper
• corn meal

Directions

Preheat oven and pizza stone (on lower 1/3 of oven) at 475 degrees for 45 min to 1 hour.

Place onions on a foil lined baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over onions and season with salt and pepper. Toss onions with hands to evenly coat. Place sheet in oven for 8-10 minutes just prior to assembling pizza. You may need to cover the more delicate green ends with more foil to prevent them from burning after a few minutes.

Remove onions from oven and roughly chop. Discard roots, but use both the white and green parts.

Cut pizza dough in half and form 2-10 inch pies. Place first pie on a pizza peel which has a thin layer of corn meal on it. This will allow the pizza to easily slide off of the peel and onto the pizza stone when placed in the oven. Evenly spread a thin layer of tomato sauce over the pie. Place one half of the sausage, onions and mozzarella evenly over the pizza.

Place the pie in the oven and bake for approximately 8 minutes, or until you see the amount of brownness/blister on the crust that you like.

Remove pie from oven and repeat pizza assembly and baking with the second pie.

*Call your favorite pizza place or market to see if they sell pizza dough. It's a great time saver.