Nonna's Sausage Bread

Contributer Cara McAvoy, sous chef at San Francisco's Chiaroscuro, shares a cherished recipe from our grandmother's kitchen:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Think of this as your last chance to enjoy time around the table with loved ones - before the next month gets completely ridiculous. Savor it!

This recipe was one of my Nonna's that I would always look forward to around the holidays. We're Italian, which loosely translates to mean: "People who take their appetizer course seriously." And we know a thing or two about sausage and peppers.

Nonna's Sausage Bread
4-6 pork sausages
extra virgin olive oil
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
2 red bell peppers
1 green bell pepper
salt & pepper to taste
1 sprig fresh time
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 package store-bought pizza dough
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cut sausage into small pieces and render in olive oil over medium high heat.
3. Remove sausage from pan reserving the fat.
4. Slice thinly the onions, garlic and peppers.
5. Add all vegetables to pork fat (adding a little more olive oil if needed)
6. Season the vegetables (the salt will help draw the water out so they wont burn) and stir often.
7. When onions are caramelized and peppers are soft and sexy add in the fresh thyme and the cooked sausage.
8. Remove from heat and and add in cheese.
9. Roll out the pizza dough into a rectangle.
10. Spoon sausage scrumptiousness along the rectangle and roll up.
11. Place on an oiled cooked sheet and brush with olive oil.
12. Bake in the oven at 350F for 20 to 30 minutes depending on thickness.

Any left-over sausage would also be wonderful as a stuffing mixed with cashews and apricots with rosemary!!