Pizza Pot Pie

Okay, it is moving into fall and that means that I am craving some comfort foods. So I hit the cookbooks this week to figure out what I wanted to post for this week's recipe of the week. I came across the Pizza Pot Pie in Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins' Silver Palate Cookbook (p. 166). This could be easily adapted to be a vegetarian option for those who are interested!

2lbs sweet Italian sausage, in 1-inch pieces
2lbs hot Italian sausage, in 1-inch pieces
4 1/2 cups of tomato sauce (recipe suggests spicy sauce)
2 cups ricotta
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
3/4 cup chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
2 1/2 tablespoons of dried oregano
2 eggs
Freshly grated pepper to taste
4 cups of grated mozzarella cheese
Pizza Dough for crust

Preheat oven to 350F.

In heavy skillet, saute sausages until brown, drain well, and transfer to a bowl. Add tomato sauce to bowl and set aside.

Mix ricotta, parmigiano-reggiano, 1/2 cup of parsley, 2 tbsp of oregano, 1 egg, and pepper.

In rectangular oven-proof dish (9x13), spread half the sausage/tomato sauce mixture. Dot this half with ricotta mixture and sprinkle 2 cups of mozzarella evenly over surface. Sprinkle with half remaining parsley and half remaining oregano. Repeat.

Roll out dough to about 1/3 inch , being certain dough is about 1 inch larger than baking dish all the way around. Transfer dough to top of pizza and tuck in the excess all around. Beat remaining egg w/1 tbsp of water and brush on top of crust.

(Recipe also says you can reserve some extra dough and cut out shapes to decorate the top, if you feel so inclined)

Bake for 35-45 minutes, then let pizza stand 30 minutes before serving.