Calzone

Sausage, pepper, and tomato calzone

The Italian word "calzone" translates to "trouser leg" or "stocking" in English. In my world "calzone" refers to a folded pizza or a savory turnover. The word's origin is thought to be linked to its folded shape resembling a pant leg. Unlike a stuffed bread or Stromboli, a calzone is typically crescent shaped and almost always has ricotta (not my favorite) in it.

Although I'm not a fan because of the ricotta, I would be remiss if I didn't share the recipe for all the ricotta lovers out there. The recipe I'm sharing is to bake the calzone; I remember back in Jersey, they often came deep fried and were more like a hand pie in size than the folded-in-half pizza that I'm making here.

There is no right or wrong filling recipe for calzones. The dough is just an edible canvas for you to work with. In this machination, I did some with the traditional ricotta with sausage & peppers, I also made some with fresh tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms, and mozzarella -- no ricotta. Thu sky's the limit here, think prosciutto, provolone, Asiago, pepperoni, pesto... anything you might like on a pizza will taste delicious inside one.

You can certainly make you own pizza dough, buy I don't usually bother because in Maine we have Portland Pie dough available in supermarkets and it's so good that it's not worth my time to make it from scratch.

THE RECIPE:

Prepared pizza dough (from one dough you'll get 2 - 3 large calzone)

Ricotta (about 1/3 C per calzone)

Shredded mozzarella (1/3 to 1/2 C per calzone depending on whether you're including ricotta)

Marinara or other sauce (about 1/4 C per calzone)

Fresh tomatoes sliced or diced and drained

Italian sausage (1 link / calzone)

Assorted sweet peppers

Sliced mushrooms

Olive oil

1/4 C White wine

Herbs de Provence

Salt / Pepper

Grated Romano or parmesan cheese

Have your dough sitting at room temperature while you prepare the fillings.

Heat a bit of olive oil in a large skillet.

Add the sausage and peppers cover and saute until the meat is cooked through.

Remove the sausage / pepper mixture from the pan and set aside in a bowl.

Scrape any residue from the pan and add a bit more olive oil and heat until shimmery.

Add the sliced mushrooms, some herbs de Provence, salt, and pepper to taste and toss to combine.

Add 1/4 C white wine and cover to simmer until mushrooms are tender.

Sausage and pepper calzone filling sauteeing

Mushroom saute for clzone filling.

Gather your calzone ingredients when it's time to assemble them.

Once your cooked fillings are cooled, it's time to assemble your calzones.

Divide a pizza dough into 2 or three pieces

Stretch or roll the dough into a circle about 8 or 9 inches in diameter.

Spread ricotta to cover all but the outer 1/2 to 3/4" of the dough

Add about 1 C filling to center

Sprinkle with additional shredded and or grated cheeses

Gently stretch to fold in half to create a stuffed crescent of dough

If the dough isn't sealing well, moisten your finger tips in water and wet the dough so it sticks to itself.

Gently press or crimp the edge so the filling doesn't ooze too much during baking.

Ricotta spread on calzone dough

Sausage and pepper filling in calzone dough

additional cheese on calzone filling

Folded and sealed calzone ready to bake.

For the ricotta-free ones, I spread some of the red pepper dipping sauce (it was leftover from when I made the crab cakes)

After the sauce I sprinkled a coating of shredded mozzarella and grated parmesan.

Calzone ready for the oven.

On top of the parmesan I added the sauteed mushrooms, and then the fresh tomato before folding and sealing for baking.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Place calzones on a parchment or silicon mat lined rimmed cookie sheet.

Bake for 15 to 25 minutes until the crust is golden.

Allow the calzone to cool a bit before serving.

Calzone ready to eat!