Making Calzone

Calzone, the perfect stuffed pizza folded over and baked, usually made as an individual serving and stuffed to perfection with various meats, vegetables and cheese, it’s the ultimate pizza pocket!
Start out with a pound of pizza dough, you can make your own or buy a good one, cut it into 4 equal pieces then let it rest to room temperature covered with a towel.
While your dough is resting you can get your filling ready, I like to use roasted veggies, always some spicy Italian sausage, precooked and sliced and a few different cheeses like fresh mozzarella, asiago and ricotta.
Oh, and some pretty green spinach and usually fresh basil I mix in with the ricotta.
Assemble your calzone with the ingredients of your choice, I made a vegetarian version and a meat one. Load your filling down the middle, not quite to the end, leaving some room for crimping. Take the top of the dough and fold it right over the filling to resemble a half moon, then crimp the edges.
Have your oven preheated to 400 degrees, then place the calzone on a baking sheet that has been brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with dry polenta or corn meal, doing this will ensure a nice crispy crust, and we like a nice crispy crust don’t we?
Make sure to brush the uncooked dough with olive oil, a little cracked pepper and a sprinkling of grated cheese before baking.

Bake for around 30 minutes or until a rich golden color develops. Warning!  Your house will smell amazing!

For my veggie version before each bite I swiped my calzone in some olive oil and balsamic glaze, crazy good!
The meat version was draped with warmed homemade marinara, the perfect companion.
Now go and make some calzone!

Buon Appetito

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STUFFED PEPPERS WITH SAUSAGE AND FONTINA

My Hubby called from work the other day and with much excitement he said,”Guess what I got today?”so I’m thinking WOW!, maybe he got a raise or something! Instead he said, ” A gigantic bag of Melrose peppers!! I could see how happy he was so I said, “Great!!” It just so happens, my Hubby did a favor for some nice Italian man who grows tons of them in his backyard, and to say Thanks, he brought him a huge bag.

I previously wrote a post on Melrose Peppers a while back just because my Hubby loves them so much, and as I said before, he would just eat that for dinner with some good Italian bread. I normally just saute them in a pan with olive oil, a little garlic and salt and pepper, then add a little red sauce at the end. So, because there were so many, I did a bunch like that, and the ones that were really big, I decided to stuff them. I happen to have a big hunk of Fontina cheese in the frig, and some Italian sausage in bulk. So all I did was cook up the sausage, cube up the cheese, and stuffed the peppers, I also had some leftover marinara, that I layered in also.

There were pans of peppers everywhere!!! So I made a quick call to my Son,( who’s taking after his Dad in the Melrose Pepper department) to stop by on his way home from work for a care package to take home. And without hesitation he said, “I’ll be there”!! So ,as you can see , although they are a very simple dish they are one of my family’s favorite!!

For those of you who never heard of Melrose Peppers, they look like a Cubanelle, banana shaped, very sweet and tender. I wonder if any of you heard of them, or is it just a Chicago thing? I hope my pictures do them justice!!

Buon Appetito!!
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SUNDAY SUPPER

Last Sunday was a rainy day in Chicago, actually it rained all weekend so I decided to make homemade sauce with meatballs and sausage. The day before, my Hubby and I, went to our local Italian store to replenish my cans of San Marzano Tomatoes, and to get some fresh sausage. Although they are pretty pricey San Marzano Tomatoes are the BEST! There absolutely is no bitter taste to these tomatoes, none at all! My favorite brand is called Gia Russo, they make a great sauce!! They are worth every penny! You must try them, if you haven’t already. Throw a little fresh Basil in there’ and WOW! You can’t get any better than that!!!! Oh yeah, The aroma is out of this world!!! You can find my favorite sauces in my ebook, Italian Sauces My way, here’s the link.

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