Mangia!

I went to Publix yesterday and found pizza dough BOGO. Publix pizza dough is a gift from above. The salt to my pepper. The sunshine on a cloudy day. My silver lining. It's delicious and so handy. So, I picked up two bags of their dough and went on my merry way. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go down the pizza road, so I settled on calzones.

About two hours before you plan on cooking, take the pizza dough out of the bag and place it in a large bowl with a few drips of EVOO so it doesn't stick. Put a dish towel over top the bowl and let it rise a bit.

Closer to dinner, go ahead and cook up the toppings of your choice. We went for a supreme-type calzone, sans sausage for mine. I browned some sausage for Hubs' and also cooked up green pepper, onion, and mushroom.

While all this is happening, combine 1 egg, 7-8 oz of ricotta, 3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella, and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Add a dash of salt and pepper and a rough chop of a handful of fresh parsley. Stir this until combined.

Now comes the fun part. And by fun, I mean the part I'm absolutely awful at. I have a slight the biggest issue when it comes to rolling out pizza dough. I don't know why it's such a struggle, but it always is! Roll your pizza dough fairly thin. Remember, you're going to be tucking all the goodness inside of it, so you don't want a Marshmallow Man-esque pouch of dough surrounding it. My mom (who is a genius in the kitchen) recommended I used EVOO instead of flour on my surface, which has helped tremendously.

 

 

Once it's rolled, use a pizza cutter to cut the dough in half. There are your two calzones! This makes two hefty calzones, so if you'd like them smaller, try cutting your dough in thirds or quarters.

Fill half of each pillow of deliciousness with a good portion of the cheese mixture and your toppings. We included mini pepperoni and the toppings I cooked up earlier.

 

Flip the other half over and pinch the edges closed. You want this to be pretty secure or you'll end up with an explosion. Which may be delectable, but will also be a mess. Bruch the top of 1 beaten egg, as well to get it nice and brown.



Cook these bad boys on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Heat up marinara sauce and dig in! I'm not kidding when I say these bad boys will blow your mind.

 

 

 

-L