Pizza that is SO not Delivery!

Another Rachael Ray dish making an appearance here...and this one cannot claim to be as healthy as the other.  Sorry....but it's true.  This doesn't make its way to our dinner table very often, but when it does----there are seriously happy faces all around.  We've even entertained with it (you know how she says that all the time?) to rave reviews.  

 

Last night, as a matter of fact, I got a request for this recipe from a dear, dear friend and that's how I learned I hadn't shared it here yet.  For shame...

Allow me to right that wrong.  I present to you...and your tastebuds...Super Stuffed French Bread Pizzas.  Enjoy.

What You'll Need
1 (2 foot long) loaf French bread
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 package frozen chopped spinach defrosted & squeezed dry
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups part skim ricotta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 pound sweet sopressata, from the deli, sliced thick, chopped
1/2 stick pepperoni, chopped
1 sack (10 ounces) shredded mozzarella
1 sack (10 ounces) shredded provolone
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

What You'll Do
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Split bread lengthwise and hollow it out. Cut in half across, making 4 shells for pizzas.
Heat a skillet over medium high flame and brown sausage in extra-virgin olive oil. Brown and crumble sausage. 

 

Add red bell pepper, onion and garlic. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, add spinach. 

 

Remove mixture from heat and season with a pinch of salt and black pepper, to your taste.
Transfer to a bowl. Combine sausage and veggies with ricotta, Parmesan, sopressata and pepperoni. 

 

Fill bread shells and top with mounded mozzarella and provolone cheeses. 

 

Place in hot oven on cookie sheet and bake until cheese melts and bubbles and bread is super crisp, about 10 to 12 minutes.

 

Top pizzas with oregano and hot pepper flakes. 

 

Serve immediately, or snack all night!

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We throw together a huge salad to go with this, and usually the three of us can only eat 1/4 of this....so we've learned to (A) make half the recipe and/or (B) only assemble/bake one half at a time so that we don't waste it.  Leftovers are good, but this one's even better when you put it together "fresh" and then bake it off.

Don't say I didn't warn you; this one packs a punch, but it's delicious AND you can customize it to your liking as well.  Get creative...go wild...do something daring.  But trust me, you will be happy you added this gem to your repertoire.