Recipe: Calzones

I love Calzones. Before I had my oldest, I worked for a heating and air conditioning company. One of the employees was Italian and he gave me a recipe for his wife's calzones. I have since lost the recipe, and only made them a few times. When my youngest and I were in Las Vegas last month we ate at a wonderful Italian restaurant and both had calzones. Mine was spinach and cheese and she had BBQ chicken. They were so good I knew I wanted to make them sometime for the family. 

Last night was the night! YUM! Turned out great. I think I could've made them smaller and brought the filling further towards the end...it's so tricky sometimes to know how far out to go and how much to fill. You don't want the toppings to break the crust when you fold it over, but you don't want massive amounts of bread either. Well, maybe you do! Haha!

I made two versions. Mine had ricotta cheese, seasoned ground beef, mushrooms, spinach, marinara sauce, an mozzarella cheese. Hubby's and my youngest had BBQ chicken, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and in hubby's, spinach and mushroom. I served extra sauce on the side. 


I believe that a "true" calzone should contain ricotta cheese. While some people don't like the texture of ricotta, I think it adds a creaminess to the calzone that just makes it that much more wonderful. The remaining ingredients can be to your liking. Pepperoni would be good as well or sausage. YUM! I considered serving a salad along with it, but we get full quickly so I passed that up. The fam could grab some if they wanted it. 

Ingredients

Recipe for Yummy Pizza Crust (I doubled this and it made 4 large calzones)..SEE NOTE BELOW ON CRUST

Ricotta cheese
Garlic powder
Parsley
Pepper
mozzarella cheese
Other filling ingredient options: Fresh Spinach, mushrooms, BBQ chicken, pepperoni, sausage, ground beef, onion, olives, marinara sauce, Alfredo sauce, etc.


**CRUST NOTE: My recipe does not have this rising. Another recipe (exact same ingredients), had it rising for 40 minutes. I did this for the calzones. I'm not sure what the difference would be if it didn't rise...I found the dough was easier to work with after it had risen.

Instructions:

1.  Once crust is ready, divide in to 4 pieces (or the number you need). Pat or roll out into a circle, again, the size you desire. 

2. Spread ricotta cheese on half of round. Top with remaining ingredients. 

3. Fold over the other half of the dough. Fold and pinch edges to seal. (I couldn't get mine to look pretty like other pictures. 

4. Place on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. 

5. Remove from oven and serve immediately. Serve sauces on the side for dipping or place over the top of calzone. 

 *SAUCE NOTE: I placed sauce inside our calzones...the BBQ sauce was mixed with the chicken, and I drizzled a little marinara inside of mine..however, you don't want too much inside if you choose this option because your calzone could become soggy.


With Joy UNquenchable,