Anyway, the book is called Baking Basics and Beyond by Minneapolis native Pat Sinclair. It has mostly sweet recipes, but there are a few savory options, too. As you may or may not know (I can't remember what I've told you), I got my start in the kitchen by baking, and it still remains one of my favorite things to do. In fact, Mom and I are going to enter a cooking photography contest from Lakewinds Natural Foods soon, and I think I am going to bake a dessert because I really consider that my strong suit. After all, it does require more precision than other types of cooking, which is perfect for a detail-oriented scientist such as myself. By the way, there are monetary prizes for the first three places, so that's a lot of motivation to do a good job! It will be pretty challenging because the dish has to look good, too, not just taste good. I'm great with making sure my dishes have the flavor of love and dedication that I pour into them, but the finished product is not exactly runway ready, if you catch my drift. But it will definitely something really cool to include in my blog. Even if I don't win, it will be fun to try a new recipe with natural ingredients (a big catch in the contest is that we can't change anything, which will be absolute torture, as I am constantly tweaking recipes to make them more accessible or to fit the supplies we have here at home). There's little I dislike more than buying a specialty ingredient that I'll use for just one recipe. I like versatility. Which brings me to the heart of this post.
Calzones are just about the most customizable food in the world. Seriously. You can anything you want, and it will still taste great, as long as you have lots of delicious cheese and the right sauce base. This recipe uses a marinara sauce base with mozzarella, but I really think you could use a cream sauce with another type of easy-melting cheese if you so desire.
The original recipe calls for homemade crust, but since I didn't have a ton of time (this is a great recipe for the time-crunched), I used store-bought Pillsbury pizza dough. It worked just great. I really love that stuff. The recipe can be found on pages 286-287 of Sinclair's tome, which comes with the epithet "Learn These Simple Techniques and Bake Like a Pro." Someday. . .
Ingredients (for four calzones):
2 rolls of Pillsbury pizza dough (your choice)
1 tablespoon of cornmeal
1 can of tomato sauce, with seasonings to taste (I used garlic powder, onion salt, ground white pepper, dried oregano, and dried basil flakes)
1 cup of shredded mozzarella (I used brick mozzarella, not fresh, but fresh might be okay if you prefer that)
Fillings--anything you wish; I used turkey pepperoni (I couldn't find regular, but it still tastes good to me), mushrooms, spinach, chopped green pepper, sliced green and black olives, sun-dried tomatoes, etc.
Optional--1 egg, beaten; a handful of shredded Parmesan cheese
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray (I like Pam), and sprinkle the sheet with the cornmeal.
2. Chop the veggies, grate the cheese, and wilt the spinach. Heat the tomato sauce in a pan with the seasonings on low heat.
3. On a lightly floured surface, unroll the dough and cut the rectangle down the middle, forming two separate rectangles. Roll out the dough slightly to give enough room for the fillings.
4. Top each rectangle of dough with 1/4 cup of the sauce. Sprinkle each with 1/4 cup of mozzarella (you may want to increase this, as I discuss later). Top the cheese with the other fillings as you prefer.
5. Starting with the short side of the rectangle, fold up the dough so the two short ends touch, pinching the dough around the edges together to seal in the contents. Transfer the calzones to the baking sheet. Slice distinctive slits in each calzone, both to let air escape in the oven as well as to be able to tell one calzone from another (see my Note below).
6. Beat an egg in a bowl. Brush each calzone with some of the egg. Sprinkle a bit of shredded Parmesan cheese on each calzone. Place the baking sheet into the oven, and cook for 18 minutes, or until golden brown. (The 18 minutes seemed like enough to cook the dough through, but if you want more browning, you could probably go 2-5 minutes longer, depending on your oven and preferences).
Allow the calzones to cool slightly before eating them. Serve them with extra sauce for dipping or topping, if you like, as well as fresh vegetables like cucumbers, tomatoes, or maybe just a green salad.
Note: I wilted the spinach for about a minute on high power in the microwave before I added it to the calzones to save space. The ground white pepper in the sauce gives the calzone a little bit of a kick. If you prefer less spice in your foods, I would recommend leaving the ground white pepper out, swapping it for some ground black pepper instead. Another suggestion from my experience is that you have to be really careful not to fill them too full. I was toeing the line between just fine and uh-oh, so take it from me. Also, the recipe takes about an hour from start to finish, just so you know. This includes letting the calzones sit for a few minutes to cool down, as they will be very hot, especially right in the center. If you are cooking for more than just yourself, and if everyone's calzone is a little bit different, it might be helpful to score the calzones with slightly different patterns of slits so that you can distinguish one calzone from another.
David and I both really liked our calzones. He got pretty full eating his, which tells me that this is a pretty filling dish, so it's not something you would want to be eating every day. Mom, Dad, and Cami all ate theirs a day later, and I got rave reviews from them. Critics are calling this dish "magnificent," "delicious," and "really good." They didn't even have any suggestions for improvement! However, I'm not so easy on myself as they are on me.
I think some improvements for next time would be A) fill the calzones less full, B) double the amount of mozzarella in the calzones, C) try the recipe with the homemade crust called for in the original recipe, and D) substitute some prosciutto in for the pepperoni. But this current recipe is pretty darn good and really couldn't be easier. All that's required is a little bit of chopping and grating and some minor assembly, and you have yourself a nice, filling, easy-to-handle dinner. I would definitely consider making this for myself again if there's ever a night when I'm alone and need something relatively fast, low-maintenance, and delicious.
 |
| I think the slits cut into them make them look like they have faces--they're happy to feed you! Photo enhanced with Instagram filtering. |
