An Italian in a Blanket

It has been a while since I have posted anything. My life has suddenly become a whirlwind, but in a good way. All the little side businesses that I have been working on have become much busier and I welcome the work and the money. Unfortunately, my cooking has really fallen by the wayside. I haven’t actually cooked anything in weeks. My husband has been really getting into smoking meat recently so my fridge is constantly full of pulled pork, smoked chicken thighs, smoked meatballs, smoked sausages, smoked…well you get the idea. He did not smoke the Italian sausages in the fridge so I needed to use them up. These roll-ups were perfect for me and the kids. These would also be great as appetizers or as a dish to take to a party. The mustard/garlic sauce is awesome and would probably make a car bumper taste good. Ol’ Micheal Chiarello knows how to make a sausage, even if he is kind of a douche. ( did you see that episode of Top Chef:Masters? Umm…wow)

Sausage in Carrozza
a Micheal Chiarello recipe

6 spicy or sweet Italian sausages
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing
10 whole garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 can store bought pizza dough

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a saucepan add 1/2-inch water to the pan. Immerse sausages in water and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove sausage and dry the pan. Return to the heat and add the olive oil on medium heat. When hot return the sausage to the pan with garlic cloves and saute until medium brown all over. Remove garlic to a bowl. Remove sausage to a plate to cool. Use a fork to mash the garlic with salt and pepper. Stir in mustard and set aside.

Cut each piece of dough into 2 and roll out until 1/4-inch thick. Cut 6 pieces of dough about 3 inches wide and 1/2-inch shorter then the length of sausage, just enough to wrap around sausage with the ends peeking out. Spread bottom of each dough with a tablespoon of garlic/mustard paste. Set sausage on top, moisten 1 dough edge with a wet finger so it sticks together and roll. Press the seam firmly and set them on a lightly floured sheet pan, seam side down. Brush with olive oil. Bake until brown all around.

Remove and let cool for 5 minutes. Cut into 3/4-inch long pieces and serve.