Calzones (Pizza Friday)

My buddy D has been making calzones a lot recently. Add that to the fact that I had been meaning to try a recipe I saw Dave Lieberman on The Food Network make awhile back and calzones were added to this week's menu.

I cut the dough I buy from the Italian bakery in half to make two calzones and rolled it out into large, thin circles. I made the filling using pepperoni, thinly sliced ham, sliced black olives, diced mozzarella, ricotta cheese, Pecorino and one egg. I put the filling on half the dough, brushed the edges with olive oil and sealed them. Then I brushed the tops with more oil and added a sprinkling of grated Pecorino.


I baked them on the pizza stone for about 10 minutes, until the inside was warmed through, the cheese melted and the dough nicely browned. As you can see, my first attempt (the calzone on the right) was a little misshapen. The one on the left looks much better. SP likes the crunchy, bready edges so he got the misshapen one.

I served the calzones with a marinara sauce I made using garlic, red pepper flakes, dried oregano and tomatoes that I slow-cooked for a few hours. It was nice and thick and spicy.


Here's an inside shot. SP and I agreed that the filling was a little dry. I had bought a 2-lb container of ricotta when I made the stuffed shells and I thought I would have enough leftover for the calzones, but I ended up using some of the cheese when I made spaghetti earlier in the week so there was maybe a little more than a cup of ricotta for two calzones. Not nearly enough, in our opinion. Next time each calzone gets a full cup.


Just for fun, here's a picture of the amaryllis my mother got me for Christmas. It was already starting to grow when I took it out of the box (forced flowers) so I stuck it on the window seat in the kitchen where we get a lot of light and it started to bloom this week. I love the vibrant red color of the flowers.


And because I know everyone likes seeing pictures of our cat, here he is (not blinking, for once).