A quick sauce made with ripe summer tomatoes and fresh herbs does double duty: It’s in the savory filling and spooned over the golden-brown crust once baked. If freezing some of the calzones, you can either freeze the remaining sauce in a small zip-top plastic freezer bag, thaw in the microwave, and reheat or serve with your favorite lower-sodium marinara (we recommend Dell’Amore).
Preparation time
- Yield Serves 8
- Total time 1 Hour, 20 Minutes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds refrigerated fresh pizza dough
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 4 cups chopped seeded tomato
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 8 ounces mild turkey Italian sausage links, casings removed
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 cups diced red bell pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
- 4 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)
- Cooking spray
Directions
- Let the dough stand, covered, at room temperature 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 450°.
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in tomato paste and garlic, cook 1 minute. Add tomato and sugar, cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in basil and oregano. Keep warm.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan, swirl to coat. Add sausage, and cook 6 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Place sausage in a bowl. Add remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan. Add onion, bell pepper, black pepper, and salt to pan, cook 5 minutes. Add pepper mixture to sausage.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, and sprinkle with cornmeal. Divide dough into 8 equal portions. Roll each portion into a 6-inch round on a lightly floured surface. Top each round with about 2 tablespoons sauce, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Top rounds evenly with sausage mixture and cheese, fold dough over filling, and crimp edges with a fork to seal. Arrange calzones on prepared baking sheets, coat with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for minutes. Bake an additional 10 minutes, or follow freezing instructions. Top each calzone with about 2 tablespoons sauce.
- How-To
- FREEZE: Wrap cooled, partially baked calzones individually in foil, and seal in a large zip-top plastic freezer bag. Freeze up to 2 months.
- REHEAT: Bake calzones, unwrapped, at 400° for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with warm lower-sodium marinara sauce.
Source: myrecipes.com