Sausage Pizza Egg Rolls

I have an awesome party dish for you guys today. One of my co-workers posted on The Feed a recipe for homemade pizza rolls -- like those frozen pizza rolls from Totino's. You may not know this about me, but Totino's pizza rolls were my post-bar staple during my early 20s. My friend and I would come home from the bar; head to her place, which was right next door to mine; and throw a batch of pizza rolls in the oven. (This even came up during her bridesmaid speech at our rehearsal dinner.) Of course, I never would have made homemade ones then (2 a.m. is not a great time for such projects), but the idea certainly intrigues me now.


At the time the recipe was posted, I had leftover egg roll wraps in the fridge and Italian sausage in the freezer and thought it would be fun to adapt the recipe to make some sausage pizza egg rolls for dinner. I swapped out wonton wraps for the egg roll wraps I had on hand, used the original sauce recipe minus the ground fennel, skipped the freezing step, and went with shallow frying instead of deep frying. The result? Crispy (but not overly greasy), crunchy egg rolls filled with crumbled, browned Italian sausage; gooey mozzarella cheese; and intensely flavored tomato sauce.

These were fun to munch on for a casual dinner but would be an even better party dish. Just fry them, halve them, set them out, and watch them disappear.

Sausage Pizza Egg Rolls 

(adapted from The Feed)

Makes 20 egg roll halves

Ingredients

Sauce (follow recipe here in steps 1 and 2, omitting ground fennel)
3 Italian sausage links, casings removed (I used sweet sausage, but you can use hot if you prefer)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
10 egg roll wraps
Vegetable oil, for frying
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preparation

Brown sausage in medium skillet over medium high heat, stirring and breaking up with wooden spoon. Transfer to paper-towel-lined bowl.

Stir sausage, mozzarella, and 3 tablespoons basil into chilled sauce.

Set out a small bowl of water. Lay out egg roll wraps on the diagonal. Divide mixture among wraps. Working with 1 wrap at a time, fold bottom up over filling. Fold sides in. Then wet finger and wet top edges of egg roll wrapper, fold top over, and press to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers.

Fill large skillet with shallow layer of oil for frying, about 1/4 inch deep. Bring to 350 degrees over medium-high heat. Fry egg rolls in batches, 1 to 3 minutes per side or until golden brown. Transfer to paper-towel-lined plate. (Adjust temperature and add more oil as needed to fry all egg rolls.)

Slice each egg roll in half on the bias, set on serving platter, sprinkle with remaining basil and Parmigiano-Reggiano, and serve.

What kind of pizza egg rolls would you make?