Do you think it would be too hard to enjoy calzones made from scratch right in the middle of the week? Trust me, it is doable with just a little bit of advance prep. First, the day before (or early in the morning), make your favorite pizza dough. Place it in the fridge. Also the day before, prepare the fillings, and reserve in the fridge, right next to the dough. When you arrive home from work, take the dough off the fridge and let it warm a little as you heat the oven. Roll the dough out, add the filling, close the calzone, and bake!
SPICY CHORIZO CALZONES
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)
1 recipe for pizza dough (click here for my favorite)
3 chorizo sausages, casings removed
1 can (14.5 oz) diced fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 Tbs olive oil
1 box (10 oz) frozen spinach, defrosted, squeezed dry
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
salt and pepper
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
egg wash (1 egg beaten with a little water)
homemade tomato sauce to serve alongside (optional)
Prepare the dough the day before or early in the morning. Place it in the fridge until dinner time. Make the filling: heat the olive oil, and add the chorizo sausage, crumbling it into pieces. Saute the sausage until it starts to get browned, drain the diced tomatoes, and add to the sausage. Reduce the heat, cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Let it cool, and place in the fridge.
Remove the dough from the fridge, cut it in four pieces, and turn the oven at 400 F. Squeeze as much water as you can from the spinach, add it to ricotta cheese, season with salt and pepper, add the egg and mix.
Roll out each ball of dough to a 7-inch diameter round. Add a little bit of sausage mixture, the ricotta/spinach, and grated mozzarella. Fold the dough over, pinch the edges to seal, brush the surface with egg wash. Cut three slits with a sharp knife, place it in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Serve with tomato sauce and a salad, and you are all set!
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
These will turn any dinner into something special and festive, and they are sooo easy to make! I used a very spicy chorizo, but the ricotta mellowed it down quite a bit. Sometimes I do not add any egg to the ricotta, but in this version I did, to make sure the filling would have a bit more body. If the filling is too liquid, the bottom of the calzone might get soggy. Of course, this is a perfect recipe to improvise, coming up with different ingredients: sautéed mushrooms, black olives, a little Gorgonzola cheese, artichoke hearts, anything goes!
I like my calzones either plain, or with a little bit of tomato sauce, but others are known to go for the kill… 😉
I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting…
ONE YEAR AGO: Plum-Glazed Duck Breasts
TWO YEARS AGO: Holiday Double-Decker
THREE YEARS AGO: New York Deli Rye
Bewitching Kitchen 
Lovely calzones. I haven’t had a pizza or one of these in ages. I still remember the stromboli I made fondly.
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/100374.html
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You know I thought about making stomboli, but decided to go for the calzone this time. Thanks for your link, you made a fantastic production there, and I’ll be following you sometime in the near future!
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Thank you. I had originally posted a number of pictures of the steps between the plain dough rolled out and the last step prior to rolling up but ended up deleting when my ImageShack account reached its free file limit. It was fun to make for a group of people and very tasty. And different from a regular pizza.
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These look so good, Sally. I’ve not made one in ages and my little calzone maker is feeling neglected. We both thank you for this tasty reminder. More importantly, I like your idea of using a spinach-ricotta combination as filling. These are much more interesting than those that I made. Well, used to make. 🙂
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I like the spinach because it gives a little bit of herbal feel to it, not so meaty and cheesy. Kale would be nice too, I suppose. As well as arugula…
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Wow these look phenomenal! We make mini pizzas every couple of weeks we will have to try this for something different.
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Mini pizzas sound wonderful to me too…
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I LOVE calzones. Any night of the week! Once the dough is made they really are so easy to throw together. you’re making me really want one!
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I don’t know why it took me so long to make them, we normally go for pizzas instead, but calzones are more festive
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I’ll be celebrating Thursday with these beauties! I like the idea that this is do-able on a week night. I’ve never made calzone… I love the rich, crispy exterior and all the goodness you’ve worked into the interior. Our family would love this bundle of warmth and deliciousness – especially welcome on cold days like today!
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They are fun to make and a lot of fun to eat! 😉
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I love that recipe! So simple and tasty! Can’t wait to try it…
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I never made Calzone, I am very tempted now.
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That looks just wonderful and I am going to make these for definite! yum yum !
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I think I have a ball of pizza dough in the fridge. Perfect! I’m raiding the freezer this week for easy meals. Too crazy of a time of year to try and cook from scratch, not to mention squeeze in a trip to the grocery store. This looks doable though. Great idea Sally!
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Made these last night! B asked when we were having them again 🙂
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Glad you and B enjoyed it! 🙂
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