One thing we love to cook as a family, it’s pizza and calzones. Here is one of our favorites, Sausage, Broccoli & Herbed Goat Cheese Calzone.
Growing up, my sweet Mama would whip up a homemade pizza or two on special occasions. Hamburger with lots of oregano added, canned mushrooms and canned black olives all over a spread of canned tomato sauce. The dough she would make from scratch, and even though the crust was really thin in some areas and rather wonky in shape, we loved it just the same.
Fast forward to now, I can safely say that we make pizzas or calzones a couple times a month, if not more. I prep the ingredients ahead of time so we can each custom make our own.I can assure you that I jazz up the marinara sauce, but still there are many delicious jarred varieties out there. I always have this one stocked in our pantry.
I’ve made pizza dough plenty of times in the past, but more often than not, I either buy dough from our local pizzeria, or from the grocery store. Either way, the cost to buy fresh pizza dough is on the low side, and it sure does make things easier and is certainly a time saver for me.
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Here Is The Secret To Rolling Out Pizza Dough
After years of struggling with uneven and wonky looking crusts, I finally figured out the secret to rolling out pizza dough.
The dough must be at room temperature!
This makes all the difference. Cold dough does not roll out well, hence all of the unevenness. Trust me on this, if your dough is at room temperature and a little on the warmer side, then you will not have any trouble rolling out or shaping your dough, whether you’re whipping up a pizza or a calzone.
I either heat up our oven to a high heat of 475, or crank up our wood burning pizza oven and we’re in business.
From time to time we all enjoy traditional flavored pizzas and calzones; pepperoni and cheese, a margarita one sometimes too, but we all love to experiment with different flavors, like an herbed goat cheese.
This recipe can be enjoyed as a pizza or a calzone, but we always make a calzone out of it.
Enjoy!
Sausage, Broccoli And Herbed Goat Cheese Calzone
Sausage, Broccoli & Herbed Goat Cheese Calzone
Ingredients
- 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small head broccoli
- 5 ounces herbed goat cheese
- 1 large garlic clove minced
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- 1 cup shredded fontina cheese
- Prepared pizza doughs
- flour as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Cut crowns from the head of broccoli. Either discard stems or save for a stock.
- In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add sausage, breaking apart with a spoon. Sauté until no pink remains. Add minced garlic and sauté for one minute longer. Using a slotted spoon, remove from pan on to a paper towel lined plate.
- Using the grease from the pan, add broccoli crowns and sauté until slightly crispy; about 5 minutes. Carefully remove leftover grease and discard.
- Reduce heat to medium and add sausage to broccoli. Crumble herbed goat cheese and add to sausage broccoli mixture and combine. Remove pan from heat.
- Meanwhile, sprinkle work surface with flour. Add prepared pizza dough and roll to stretch slightly. Using a bread and butter sized plate (about 6 inches) cut dough into disks.
- Place 1/2 cup or so of sausage mixture on to dough. Sprinkle the top of the sausage mixture with a little fontina cheese. Brush the edge with beaten egg, and fold over to close, crimping edges. Cut a 1/2 inch slice in the top of the calzone to allow air to escape. Place on baking sheet and repeat. Brush tops of calzones with egg wash.
- Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until golden.
