Benito’s authentic Italian home-style prepared meats.

Chicago Style Italian Sausage and Pepper Deep Dish Pizza
Recipe courtesy of Emeril Laggase, 1999

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups thinly sliced yellow onions
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 cups thinly sliced green bell peppers
1 pound Italian sausage links, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 recipe of Basic Pizza Dough
12 ounces grated mozzarella cheese
2 cups tomato sauce
2 tablespoons dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a large saute pan, over medium heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions. Season with salt and pepper. Saute for 2 minutes. Add the peppers. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to saute for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. In a large saute pan, over medium heat, add the sausage and render for 4 to 6 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Divide the dough in half and roll into a 14-inch circle, about 1/2-inch thick. Press the dough into 2 greased 12-inch deep-dish pizza pans. Sprinkle each pizza with 6 ounces of the grated cheese. Spoon 1/2 of the onion and pepper mixture over each pizza. Sprinkle 1/2 of the sausage over the onion mixture on each pizza. Spread 1 cup of the tomato sauce over the top of each pizza. Sprinkle each pizza with 1 tablespoon of oregano. Bake the pizzas for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the pizza from the oven and cut into individual servings.

Taleggio Prosciutto Grilled Cheese Recipe

 Ingredients:

Procedure:
Over medium-high heat in a non-stick sauté pan, add the oil and place both slices of bread into the pan. Toast the bread and flip the pieces over.While the second sides are toasting, layer one side of the bread with the cheese and the basil on top. Layer the other side of the bread with the ham and tomatoes. Allow the sandwich to toast to golden brown on the second side.

Thanks to: http://chef.pct.edu/

Sausage with Peppers and Tomato Recipe

The choice of peppers is yours, but unless the sausage is extremely mild, red bell peppers are always a good choice. For mild sausage, try Greek pepperoncini or other mildly hot pepper. In this recipe, I used our local homemade sausage which has enough spice to make my eyes water, so I chose one red and one orange (sweeter) bell pepper.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pounds of country sausage
• 2 medium onions
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1 large ripe tomato, finely chopped with juice
• 1 clove of garlic, sliced
• 1 tablespoon white or red wine
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil

PREPARATION:

Cut sausage into slices. Peel onions and cut into chunks. Trim peppers and remove seeds. Cut into chunks.

In a heavy-bottomed frying pan or skillet, sauté the onion in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent, about 5-8 minutes stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Add sausage, peppers, chopped tomato and juice, and garlic, and stir until all ingredients are well mixed. Stir in wine and cover. Cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Spoon onto serving plates and serve warm.

Yield: serves 4

Preparation note: If using pepperoncini peppers (mildly hot), they can be used whole as long as the sausage isn’t extremely spicy. Otherwise, slit the pepper open and remove the seeds before adding to the dish.

Thanks to http://www.about.com/