Calzone and pizza party

Well it was a party of 2. But yesterday we made 3 calzones and a pizza for dinner. No, we didnt eat them all. But we couldnt decide which ones to make, so we made 3!

Matty made the dough based on a recipe in Mom's Big Book of Baking. I am not sure what the actually recipe was but it is a pretty good recipe (a little sticky sometimes).

Then we made a cold cut calzone, a bbq beef brisket calzone, a turkey and basil calzone and a pizza provencal (kinda).

Cold Cut Calzone
This is one of my own creations, so no real recipe but we used - pepperoni, genoa salami, proscuitto, rosemary ham, provolone and asiago. And it is damn tasty. I usually add tuekry but Matty decided to use rosemary ham instead. All the cold cuts were from Trader Joe's.

BBQ Beef Brisket Calzone
This one is pretty basic - Trader Joe's Pulled Beef Brisket in Smoky BBQ Sauce, shredded cheddar. Mmmmm . . .

Turkey and Basil Calzone
This is based on this recipe - Chicken and Basil Calzones. With some modifications of course.

Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2008. Ground chicken breast is a lean alternative to beef. Substitute ground sirloin, if you prefer. (We used ground turkey) Total time: 40 minutes. (That is their pic but our filling looked pretty similar)


Cooking spray
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground chicken breast (1.25 lb ground turkey)
3/4 cup prepared pizza sauce (Trader Joe's Tomato Basil Marinara)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (1 tsp)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 (13.8-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough (Matty's crust)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (Trader Joe's lite mozzarella)

1. Preheat oven to 425°. (350)

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add garlic and chicken to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, stirring to crumble. Stir in pizza sauce and pepper. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in basil. Let stand 10 minutes.

3. Unroll dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; cut dough into quarters. Pat each portion into an 8 x 6–inch rectangle. Divide chicken mixture evenly among rectangles; top each serving with 2 tablespoons cheese. Working with one rectangle at a time, fold dough in half over filling, pinching edges to seal. Repeat procedure with remaining rectangles. Bake at 425° for 12 minutes or until golden. (We just made 1 calzone, we used about 3/4 of the filling because the dough wasn't stretching quite enough for us)

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 calzone) (Again, we made 1 calzone total)

CALORIES 459 (14% from fat); FAT 7.1g (sat 1.8g,mono 1g,poly 0.4g); IRON 3.7mg; CHOLESTEROL 74mg; CALCIUM 111mg; CARBOHYDRATE 56.4g; SODIUM 919mg; PROTEIN 39.1g; FIBER 3g

Pizza Provencal
The pizza was loosely based on this recipe - Pizza Provencal.

Cooking Light, JUNE 2009. Upgrade pizza night by making a pie loaded with fresh basil, rotisserie chicken, (we left out the chicken) and all the best of Italian-inspired ingredients. A food processor makes quick work of the homemade sauce. (We didnt make a sauce per se. That is their pic. Ours looks NOTHING like that.)


1/4 cup niçoise olives, pitted (I used kalamata cuz I had them)
3 tablespoons fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (I used 2 Tbsp of a sundried tomato tapenade)
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (I used dried lemon peel)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic (We used 1 head of roasted garlic)
1 teaspoon water (left this out since we werent making a sauce)
1 (16-ounce) loaf Italian bread, split in half horizontally (We used Matty's dough)
2 cups thinly sliced roasted skinless, boneless chicken breast (about 6 ounces) (Left this out)
3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled goat cheese (we used half goat cheese, half feta)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1. Preheat oven to 450°. (350)

2. Combine first 7 ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth. (I just chopped the olives, mushed the garlic cloves and mixed it all together in the dish we roasted the garlic in) Place bottom half of bread, cut side up, on a baking sheet (reserve top half for another use). Spread olive mixture over bread (We just used the olive mixture as a spread o. Arrange chicken over bread; sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes or until heated. Sprinkle with basil. Cut into 4 pieces.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 piece) (We made a full size pizza from it)

CALORIES 330 ; FAT 10.7g (sat 4.4g,mono 3.8g,poly 1.6g); CHOLESTEROL 46mg; CALCIUM 98mg; CARBOHYDRATE 34.4g; SODIUM 595mg; PROTEIN 23.2g; FIBER 2.3g; IRON 3mg