I love a lazy Sunday and usually spend my time making a casual dinner for my boyfriend and I. We don't make it formal or sit down at the table, but instead get cozy on the couch and eat in front of one of the great Sunday night shows (Mad Men last night, of course) or a movie. Usually there is a good bottle of wine to sip and my boyfriend will make a dessert. His specialty is tarts of all kinds, but decided to try something new this weekend and make a lemon cake with strawberries, mostly because I had the ingredients already on hand. It was moist, lemony, and even better for breakfast this morning.
A couple weeks ago my mom, sister and I took a Saturday to visit Skagit Valley and picked up pork from Skagit River Ranch. They both had ordered a pork pack which includes several cuts of organic pork, such as bacon, sausages, pork chops, pork roasts and more. I hadn't ordered anything, but bought some sausages and pork chops from their farm store. Their pork is not inexpensive, but it is not easy to find organic pork and the quality and taste of their pork is excellent.Yesterday I used the spicy italian sausage in a calzone. I made my own yeast dough for the crust and filled them with the a mixture of the sausage with fennel, peppers, olives, onions, mushrooms, ricotta and mozzarella. I served it with marinara sauce for dipping and a simple baby romaine salad with anchovy and red wine vinaigrette. The calzone recipe is listed below. The great thing about this recipe is that you can make the calzone dough recipe and stuff it with whatever ingredients you want or have on hand.
Italian Sausage Calzone
makes 4 calzones
Calzone Dough:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 packet dry active yeast
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
Filling:
4 spicy Italian sausages, casing removed
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 red onion, chopped
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup kalamata olives, sliced in half
12 oz ricotta cheese
2 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 egg, whisked together of egg wash
salt and pepper
Warm Marinara sauce for dipping
Directions:
Pour 1 1/2 cups warm water into large bowl. Stir in yeast. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes. Mix in oil and salt. Add 3 3/4 cups flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until blended. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, sprinkling with more flour if sticky, about 10 minutes.
Place dough in oiled large bowl; turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the sausage in a large heavy bottom saute pan with the olive oil. After sausage is cooked, transfer is to a bowl. Add the onion and pepper to the pan and cook until onion is translucent and pepper is soft, transfer to the bowl with the sausage. Add the mushrooms to the pan (add more olive oil if pan is dry) and saute until all liquid is gone from the pan and the mushrooms are soft, add the fennel to the pan and cook until soft, season with salt and pepper. Add mushrooms and fennel to the sausage mixture, and then add the olives and mix until well combined. In a separate bowl mix together the ricotta, mozzarella, red pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.
Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400 F
Dust 2 baking sheets with flour.
Punch dough down and knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth, about 1 minute. Divide into 4 equal portions and shape each into a ball. Roll out dough balls on lightly floured surface to 9" rounds.
Spread 1/4 of the cheese mixture over half of each round, leaving 3/4" border. Cover cheese on each with 1/4 of the sausage mixture. Fold plain dough halves over filling, forming half circles. Pinch edges of dough firmly together to seal.
Brush each calzone with egg wash over top and seal.
Using spatula, transfer 2 calzones to each prepared sheet. Pierce tops in several places with small knife. Bake calzones 15 minutes. Reverse baking sheet and bake until tops of calzones are golden brown, about 15 minutes longer.
Serve with warm marinara sauce. Enjoy!
