Monday, January 5, 2009

Calzones!

I'm not going to lie. I've heard of calzones before, but had never had one. I'd never seen one, either. For Christmas, my biggest son bought me "fun food stuff" including some tiny bear pans (I'll tell you about those some time soon), and a pizza stone. So I figured I'd make one white pizza for New Year's Eve, and everyone could have a slice with their many selections of meat. Well, my middle daughter took up rooting for calzone instead, because she buys them at college and loves them. Off to Beth Hensberger's bread machine cookbook for guidance, where I learned that calzone translates to "trouser leg". Super. Now, how do I cook the things?

So, I used Beth's recipe for the crust, and adapted a recipe for stuffed shell stuffing I found in that day's newspaper (where the food people were telling us how much money we can save by cooking instead of eating out every day - DUH!!!!!). My little guy couldn't finish his, and I didn't even touch mine that night, although I reheated it the next day, and thoroughly enjoyed it, as did everyone else. Heck, they didn't even know this was pretty good for them!
CALZONES WITH SPINACH, CHEESE & SAUSAGE STUFFING

Crust for 4 "personal sized" calzones:


1-1/8 cups water
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tsp yeast
1-1/2 tsp salt
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour


Mix in the bread machine or by hand or mixer. Let the dough rise for 15 minutes, while the filling cooks, then form into 4 balls and flatten each to about 6" to 8" diameter.

Filling:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large finely chopped onion
1 pound hot or sweet Italian sausage
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 box frozen spinach, thawed & squeezed dry
1 large egg
1 pound Ricotta cheese

2/3 cups grated Parmesan
1 tsp dried basil

Cut the sausage in pieces, and saute in the olive oil with the onion and garlic until cooked. Put in the food processor and pulse to cut into small pieces. In a bowl, mix the Ricotta and egg; stir in the spinach and basil, and add the sausage mix and Parmesan. Spread 1/4 of the mix on one half of each calzone dough. Liberally sprinkle the top of the mix with grated mozzarella, fold the dough over on top of the filling, holding the dough back about 1/2" from the bottom edge, then fold the bottom edge over the top part of the dough. Bake at 425 for 20 to 25 minutes, and let stand for a few minutes for the filling to set. Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.
I've been told I must make these again, so I guess they were a big hit!

22 comments:

Christo Gonzales said...

excellent pant legs....the crust looks perfect and the filling sounds so tasty....

SissySees said...

I require some. You even stuffed it with my favorite calzone fillings...

Pam said...

I love calzones and yours look delicious and I love the ingredients you used. The crust looks absolutely perfect!

Unknown said...

I think they look wonderful. I'm all about spinach anything. Can you figure out how to make good spinach enchiladas? Thanks - g

ps - thanks to you, I think a bread machine might be making it's way to my house. g

cidell said...

I love making pizza at home. But, I haven't tried a calzone yet. This looks good.

Tatersmama said...

Mmmmm mmmmm Good!
I want me some of these trouser legs!

Anette said...

They look great! And excellent photographing, especially the last one! Think I'll have to make some calzones soon!

veedogknitter said...

oh boy, those look better than any i have ever had in a restaurant!

grace said...

you can stuff pretty much anything into a calzone and i'll inhale it. there's something about the package-form that stokes my appetite--these are great! :)

Peter M said...

Trouser leg, really? lol

The calzones look great and you could offer up many ingredients and have the kids help make some.

pam said...

Marjie - I love calzones! These looks especially yummy!

Anonymous said...

I have never heard of these. Boy do they look delicious!

Lakeland Jo said...

I agree with everyone else- they look lovely. They look a bit like what we call 'pasties' here.

The Blonde Duck said...

I'm so jealous! I love calzones! They look so good!

Prudy said...

I love calzones, just love them. YOur birthday cake was lovely! I wish I could pipe so pretty as you do. Also, we had yorkshire pudding and roast on Christmas day. It's such a lovely holiday dinner! I'm so glad to hear that you had a big happy family holiday. We are just now finishing the celebration. The last of my siblings left yesterday night, but now we are going to Disneyworld on Wed. We always need a vacation after the holidays!

Ann Made Studio said...

Your calzones look absolutely delicious! So much more appetizing than "anything" served up in a restaurant!

Paula said...

Oooooh yeah! Love calzones! Your filling is great; I like how you used the food processor to break up the meat mixture into small pieces. Genius! I love the Irish(?) version of these called pasties, too. Different filling, same principle. Man, now I want a calzone instead of what is cooking in my oven!

Anonymous said...

I love calzones too but I've never made them. The filling sounds awesome and I always look forward to a yummy calzone!

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

Your calazones came out great. Your dough came out perfect. I haven't heard them called pant legs before. My girls love them but I cheat and use store bought pizza dough.

Jan said...

These look great, Margie. I love spinach on pizza.

test it comm said...

Great looking calzones!

Sparow said...

These were delicious! We made them twice--first fro just us, and then the next week to share with friends. Tofu filling the first time and sausage the next. They came out perfect both times, and I'm amazed how the crust was hard enough on the outside, but still soft ion the inside. We will definitely be keeping this recipe. Thanks!