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pita bread and Italian nachos in a bowl

Italian Nachos with Herbed Ricotta and Homemade Pita

Mix up your taco Tuesday routine with this super simple Italian version of nachos with herbed ricotta and homemade pita.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings: 5
Course: Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients
  

  • 16 oz. ground Italian sausage
  • 2 Tbs. garlic powder
  • ¼ cup red wine
  • 16 oz. crushed tomatoes
  • 8 oz. tomato sauce
  • 3 tsp. each dried basil oregano, parsley
  • 2 tsp. Fennel seed
  • 1 tsp. each salt and pepper
  • 6 oz. Ricotta cheese
  • ½ tsp. each basil oregano, parsley, salt and pepper
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ tsp. each basil oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, rosemary, (crushed red pepper optional)
  • Additional toppings: goat cheese shredded mozzarella or Parmesan, green olives, black olives, Kalamata olives, Calabrian peppers, banana peppers, pepperoncinis
  • pita chips

Method
 

  1. Brown the Italian sausage in a saute pan on medium-high heat. Liberally sprinkle the garlic powder on it as it cooks. Once cooked through, add the red wine and deglaze the pan, allowing the alcohol to cook out for a few minutes. Add both the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce and 3 teaspoons each of all the spices. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let it simmer until heated through.
  2. While your sauce is simmering, you can mix up the herbed Ricotta. Mix the Ricotta and ½ teaspoon each of all the spices and set aside until you’re ready to assemble your nachos.
  3. For the pita, preheat the oven to 500 degrees, take out a lemon-sized ball of dough and place on a floured surface. Sprinkle the dough with enough flour to keep it from sticking as you roll it out. Roll the dough out to ⅛ inch thick and set on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Do this until you have the desired amount of pita bread rolled out.
  4. Pour the olive oil and ½ teaspoon of each of the spices in a bowl and stir. Take a spoonful of the herbed oil and spread over each piece of pita bread. Place the pita in the preheated oven and bake until browned - about 6-8 minutes.
  5. Assemble your Italian nachos with pita chips on the bottom or your soft pita bread on the side for dipping.