Spinach, Sausage and Ricotta Calzone – sounds like a perfectly simple Saturday after, right?
You see, what had happened was. After I got home from our Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk yesterday morning and spending the afternoon with my aunt and uncle at the craft fairs (still sporting my hot pink leggings I might add), I came home and decided to chill and see what I had saved in my DVR.
So, I came across a couple recorded episodes of Pioneer Woman. And, I was done. Quickly I found myself making a grocery list and checking to see what I had in my pantry and fridge. Surprise, most of it was already here.
So, after watching this episode, I decided to make my own Sausage, Spinach and Ricotta Calzones with homemade Marinara.
You see, her recipe for calzones and marinara, looked completely manageable. The problem was when I put my feet on the ground I could barely walk (I was up at 4 am after all). However, for once, no fast food sounded good and cooking is so cathartic for me that I knew I had to get to the store quickly!
I’ll try to list what I did below.
Sausage, Spinach, and Ricotta Calzones
1/2 pkg frozen seasoning blend
1 T olive oil
1 pkg HOT breakfast sausage Italian Season,
dried basil, salt, pepper
16 oz Ricotta cheese
grated Italian cheese blend
asiago cheese (left over 1 in wedge), grated
2 eggs
1 pkg frozen spinach, thawed and drained
2 rolls refrigerated pizza dough
Preheat oven to 400.
Saute seasoning blend in olive oil until the edges of the onions begin to brown. Add in sausage. Brown meat. Sprinkle with Italian Seasoning and basil. Stir together. Pour out onto a paper towel-lined platter to drain meat. Let meat cool before adding to filling.
In a separate bowl mix cheeses, eggs, salt, and pepper. Thaw spinach and squeeze out as much water as possible. Stir into cheese mixture. Add sausage and blend all together.
Lay out pizza dough and spread thin to even layer. Cut into 4-quadrants. Place portion of filling in center of each quadrant long ways so you can fold over the top to the other side. Leave a 1/2-inch edge of the dough for sealing.  Fold one side over the other.
Fold up corners to seal. Seal edges with a fork. (you can use an egg wash on the top of the dough before you transfer to a baking sheet – I did not, but PW did!)
Transfer to baking sheet. With the pizza dough, they don’t poof up much, just need a little room to breathe. Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes. The bottom will be soft, so you may want to cook until the top is fully brown.
You can serve with Marinara sauce, Ranch, or whatever you prefer. They do refrigerate ok. I just turned mine over on the baking stone and “warmed” it for 15 minutes at 350. This helped the soggy bottom to toast up and was just as yummy the second (and third!) time. Make sure you check out this homemade marinara sauce I made to go with them!
