plumdelicious: Recipe File: Italian Sausage and Peppers Calzone

Monday, September 5, 2011

Recipe File: Italian Sausage and Peppers Calzone

I love making homemade pizza, and I make it often. Inspired by this image from Pinterest, and the pizza joints in mall food courts everywhere-I made stuffed italian sausage and peppers calzone. Not only is it delicious, but it looks beautiful-and it’s simple to boot!

I don’t bake that often, and usually don’t have high hopes for anything involving dough, especially on the first try. (I’m hoping to change that this winter!) But using frozen pizza dough made the process go quickly and smoothly. I used italian sausage and peppers in this recipe, but you can substitute pepperoni to make the process much simpler.

Ingredients:

1 ball frozen pizza dough, thawed

Olive oil

1 cup pizza sauce

1 package mild italian sausage links

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 onion, sliced

1 1/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Drizzle a baking sheet with olive oil and add sausages. Bake italian sausages about 15-20 minutes, turning once, until sausages are fully cooked and are no longer pink inside.

While the sausage bakes, slice peppers and onions into strips. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan on medium high heat. When the oil is almost smoking, add the onions. Sprinkle with a little salt and sauté for 2 minutes, until the onions just begin to color.

Add the peppers and stir well to combine with the onions. Sauté for 4-5 minutes, stirring often. The peppers should be al dente—cooked, but with a little crunch left in them.

Place peppers and onions in a bowl and set aside. When sausages are fully cooked, slice them into medallions, place in a bowl and set aside.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface; shape into a 16 x 10 inch rectangle. Transfer to a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Make diagonal cuts 1 1/2 inches apart down each side, cutting within a 1/2 inch of the filling. Spoon pizza sauce in a stripe down the center of dough lengthwise; add sausage, onions and peppers, top with cheese.