Italian Oven Baked Turnover

Last week the Associate priest asked me if they could have calzone for dinner tonight. I've never made the dish before, but I knew enough about it to know that I could figure out the procedure and agreed. The finished meal was well-received,, and I also learned a lot along the way.

My original understanding was that a calzone was a folded in half pizza with the edges pinched together. However, the first thing I learned was that a calzone does not have any sauce inside. Instead, marinara is served on the side for dipping. The second thing I learned was that traditional calzones have to have ricotta cheese (along with mozzarella) as part of the filling. The third thing I learned that a calzone was a first cousin to a stromboli, a type of savory turnover that is rolled like a burrito and cut into spiral slices. A stromboli usually has sauce inside and only has mozzarella cheese.

Once I figured out what I was making I found a recipe and made a shopping list. On the way to the church today I stopped by the grocery store for ingredients. Because I was also doing some precooking for Wednesday's staff lunch I took the easy way out and bought a pizza crust from the dairy case. (That rectangular crust didn't easily lend itself to circular pieces so my calzones were square instead of moon shaped. Neither priest complained.)

I divided the large pizza dough rectangle into eight pieces, quartered pepperoni slices and microwaved them to get rid of some of the grease, and sauteed colored pepper strips. 

When it was assembly time I put a spoonful of ricotta on each rectangle, added pepperoni, peppers, and shredded mozzarella. Next I folded the dough over the ingredients, pressed the edges together, then went back over the edges again with a fork to crimp them well. Right before baking I cut a slit on the top of each calzone so the steam could release during baking. 

I put the tray of calzones in the oven and set the timer. Halfway through I looked in the oven and noticed the calzones puffing up nicely. A couple of them were rocking gently back and forth as the steam came out of the top vent. 

In addition to the calzone and marinara sauce, dinner included a salad with Imo's Pizza sweet Italian dressing. I made enough calzone for two meals, and I'm pretty sure they'll be gone by my next cooking shift on Wednesday.