Calzones

Hello world!  We are recovering from our second round of the stomach flu in 3 weeks so my series on freezer meals has been sidelined.  Having my kids have the stomach flu is one of my hardest parenting experiences to date.  It’s so hard to watch your kids be miserable!  So glad that we are on the mend.

I’ll be sharing a couple of additional recipes this week to finish up this series.  First up, calzones.  I know that I’ve written about my favorite pizza dough here but I’ve found another favorite.  This thin crust recipe from The Kitchn is amazing.  I roll it out really thin and it bakes up super crispy.  I love it for calzones because it creates a crispy shell around melted cheese and my favorite pizza toppings.  Delicious!  I used balls of dough about the size of oranges for these calzones.  I typically make a triple batch of dough so we can have calzones and pizza all week.  The dough stays good in the fridge as long as it’s wrapped in plastic wrap.

These calzones were so good that we didn’t end up freezing as many as I planned.  These ended up being our lunch one day while we were staying with Caley and John and have since become a lunchtime staple in our house.  I love calzones.  Part of me thinks it’s simply sentimental.  The second year that Currey and I dated, I lived in Texas and he lived in Illinois.  On my first trip up to visit, he took me to a place called Pockets.  It was the first restaurant I ate at in Chicago and it’s still one of our favorites.  They serve amazing calzones with seemingly limitless ingredients.  Every time I make calzones at home, I’m reminded of countless meals shared and fun memories that we’ve created.

One of the reason’s that I love calzones is that they are so versatile.  Just look at Pockets menu.  Ours are usually a random mix of ingredients that I can scrounge up in the fridge.  Pepperoni, leftover chicken, ham, sausage or ground beef are great proteins to start with.  Simply add your favorite cheese, sauce and extra veggies.  I like black olives and banana peppers.  Spinach, mushrooms or onions would be great too.  This is also a great meal for entertaining.  Simply provide the dough and let you guest create their own calzones.  They freeze and reheat easily so you can make a double batch and freeze half.

Recipe slightly adapted from The Kitchn

 

Calzones

Ingredients

1 batch thin-crust pizza dough

Your favorite pizza toppings

1 cup pizza sauce

Olive oil

 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 500°F

2. Divide the dough into equal pieces that are the size of oranges.  If you’d like larger calzones, make the portions the size of grapefruits.

3. Roll out the dough into thin circles.  Mine tend to turn out more like ovals and they work just as well.

4. Spoon 2 Tbsp of sauce on the bottom half of the circle.  Add ¼ cup of your favorite toppings, making sure to leaving a ½ inch border around the edge.

5.  Fold the top of the dough circle over the filling and press to seal. Then roll the edge up and pinch the dough together to form a more secure seal.  (I had issues with my first batch exploding and the toppings spilling out.  I’d recommend making sure they are well sealed.)

6. Brush calzones with olive oil as this gives them a beautiful golden color.  Slice 3-4 steam vents in the top of the calzones with a sharp knife.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the calzones are golden, browned on the edges, and the filling is bubbly.

7.  Allow to cool a few minutes before eating.  These calzones are piping hot!

 

If you want to freeze your calzones, allow them to completely cool then individually wrap in plastic wrap.  Put all the calzones in a freezer bag and freeze.

To reheat calzones, simply thaw the calzone for a few hours in the fridge.  If you don’t have time for that just cook it in the oven 5-7 minutes longer.  Bake at 350 until heated through.