Turkey & Broccoli Alfredo Pizza

If you've been following the last few posts, you'll know that the weekend after Thanksgiving, Schmambs made us a post Schmanksgiving turkey which was big enough to probably feed the whole state of Rhode Island.  Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but it was big enough that we were eating it every day.  And to be honest, I was actually starting to get a little turkey'd out.  Almost to a point where I would've been happy not to see a turkey until next Thanksgiving.  Gasp!  I know!  But having turkey oozing out of your ears will do that to you.

There is a place across the street from where Schmambs works.  She has gotten lunch from there a few times and she hasn't been able to stop talking about this chicken and broccoli calzone that they make.  One thing that makes it stand out is that they use alfredo sauce.  Well, we had an abundance of turkey which we could substitute for the chicken.  It wouldn't be the first dish where we've swapped the two proteins.  (Remember Schmanksgiving Eggrolls?)  Anyways, we thought we would give making calzones a try.

We picked up pre-made pizza dough from our local grocery.  Schmambs took the dough out of the packaging and allowed it to proof prior to my arrival at La Casa de Schmambs.  

The dough didn't appear much bigger after a while and we thought we would begin preparing the other ingredients and save the dough rolling until last.  Maybe the dough would magically double in size if we were lucky.  First thing to do was boil the broccoli.  Once cooked, it was drained and then chopped into bite size pieces.

Schmambs put me in charge of making the alfredo sauce.  We cheated and used packaged mix where you just add the milk and voilà, you have sauce in a matter of minutes.  In our defense, it was football Sunday which means it's more important to be watching our team play in the living room than making alfredo sauce from scratch in the kitchen.

While I focused on making sure I didn't burn the sauce, Schmambs took care of chopping up the remaining turkey we had leftover from our post Schmanksgiving feast.

We had originally planned on making two calzones with the pizza dough.  After attempting to roll out the dough for the first calzone, it soon became apparent that it was not going to happen.  Good thing there's always a contingency plan.  We made rectangular shaped pizzas instead.  

Aside from using a different type of sauce, it was like making a traditional pizza.  Sauce on the dough, cheese, and then toppings.  Instead of the red sauce, we used alfredo sauce and our toppings consisted of turkey and broccoli.  And because we love cheese, we added an extra layer on top of the toppings.

   

After making our first pizza, I was hit with a brainstorm.  In the corner was a Costco-sized bag of French's fried onions, sitting there since the green bean casserole debacle a few night prior.  To say we had an abundance of fried onions would be an understatement since we misread the recipe and ended up with enough onions for 100 servings of green bean casserole.  Oops.  I really enjoy onions on my pizza, so I thought it might be a good idea to throw them onto our pizza and hope for the best.

After the second pizza came out of the oven and we tried the slices topped with fried onions, it was decided that the next time we attempt this, fried onions all around!  The onion flavor blended really well with the turkey, broccoli, and alfredo sauce and also added a nice crispy texture to each bite.

Turkey & Broccoli Alfredo Pizza

pizza dough of your choice

alfredo sauce

1 Cup broccoli (chopped up)

1 Cup turkey (chopped up)

4 Cups shredded cheese

1/2 Cup fried onions (optional)

Boil broccoli until it is cooked.  Remove and drain excess water.  Chop the broccoli up into bite-size pieces and set aside.  Chop turkey into bite size pieces and set aside.  Preheat oven according to pizza dough cooking instructions.  Roll out pizza dough and top with a thin layer of alfredo sauce.  You don't want to overload the dough.  Sprinkle 3 cups of the pizza cheese on top of the alfredo sauce.  Repeat the same steps with the broccoli, turkey, remaining cheese, and fried onions.  Put the pizza in the oven and cook until the fried onions are browned and the cheese is bubbling.

Let the pizza sit for 5 minutes when you remove it from the onion to allow the toppings to cool and the cheese to set.  Cut into slices and enjoy!