Did Someone Say Sausage Calzone?

Whoa. WHOA. Hold on…is this…is this a calzone full of more sausage? Dude. It’s like someone took a pizza…folded it…and then stuffed it with everything I’ve ever loved. Wait…sausage stuffed mushrooms INSIDE a sausage calzone?! That’s like… a turducken, but for sausage! A sausag-ception! Mmmmmm! Oh man…okay, you got spicy sausage, regular sausage, peppers, onions, garlic…everything’s all hot and juicy and just slammin’ together like a food mosh pit! And the cheese…there’s like FOUR cheeses! Fontina, ricotta with pesto, mozzarella, parmesan…this is like a cheese band and they’re all shredding at once! This is the kind of food you eat before a rock show… or during… or instead of playing the show! I would name a band after this calzone. Actually I’d become this calzone.

Ingredients

6 One Side Stuffed Mushrooms
2 Grilled Sweet Italian Sausage
1 Grilled Hot Italian Sausage
1 Italian pepper
1/2 red pepper
1 jalapeno
1/2 red onion
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
3 cloves garlic (plu 3 more)
1 tsp Sensai Splinter’s Secret Spice
1 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup olive oil (plus 1 tbs more)
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts
8 oz ricotta cheese
1/2 lb sliced low moisture mozzarella cheese
1/2 lb sliced fontina cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 lb pizza dough
1 tbs sesame seeds

Directions

Slice mushrooms, peppers, onions, and garlic. In a sauté pan over medium high heat 1 tbs olive oil until just smoking, add the sliced mushrooms to the pan, season with salt and pepper and toss in the oil to coat the mushrooms. Cook mushrooms, tossing occasionally, for 5-6 minutes or until they turn golden brown. Chop the peppers, onion, parsley and three garlic cloves and to the pan, season with Sensai Splinter’s Secret Spice, and toss together with the cooked mushrooms. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then reduce the frying pan to medium heat and cover with the lid cracked for steam to escape and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the cover and cook an extra 2 minutes to reduce the liquid the peppers and onions have given up.
In a small fry pan over medium heat, add the remaining olive oil, pine nuts, and garlic. Cook until the pine nuts begin to get golden brown. Remove from heat and let cool. In a food processor, add the pine nut mixture, basil, and Romano cheese. Puree the mixture to a paste.
In a large bowl, combine the basil puree and ricotta cheese. Separate the egg yolk and white, add the egg yolk to the ricotta mixture, reserve the egg white.
Pre heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Slice your grilled sausages into 1/4 inch rounds. Roll out your pizza dough to about an 18 inch round. On half the pizza dough, leaving an inch of space to the edge, lay down half the slices of fontina cheese, followed by a layer of half the Italian sausage slices, then a layer of half the pepper mixture. Top pepper mixture with the stuffed mushrooms, followed by a layer of the ricotta mixture, a layer of half the mozzarella cheese, a layer of the spicy sausage rounds, the Parmesan cheese, and the remaining mozzarella cheese. Follow with a layer of the remaining pepper mixture, remaining Italian sausage rounds, and finally the remaining fontina cheese. Wet the edge of the pizza dough with some water and fold the empty half of pizza dough over the fillings to close the calzone and crimp the edges tight to seal.
Brush the egg white over the top of the calzone and sprinkle on the sesame seeds.
Bake calzone for 35 minutes in pre-heated oven.
Allow calzone to rest for 10-15 minutes before cutting.
Serve with marinara sauce.