According to Epicurious.com, a calzone is a stuffed pizza that resembles a turnover. Who knew they would be so easy to make? And less fattening than the ones you buy in pizza parlors. You do not have to deep fry these delights, nor do you have to spend hours making pizza dough. My baked calzones are inspired by Rachael Ray who taught me that shortcuts can really pay off.
I was inspired to make my calzones because I had some leftover chorizo sausage and ricotta in the fridge. I thought they would make terrific calzones so I fried up the sausage and got out some ingredients for the stuffing:
Italian parsley, parmesan, low fat ricotta, thawed frozen spinach, a little grated nutmeg, 2 cloves of garlic chopped and salt and pepper made the filling. Once the sausage cooled I added it to the mixture.
I used Pillsbury pizza dough, rolled it out and sliced it in half. On one piece I put some cheddar on the bottom, then topped it with the filling.
I rolled the ends over each other moving from left to right. Looks fancy and pretty but I really did this quickly without thinking. I brushed the top with some olive oil and baked at 425F for 15 minutes. You want them to be lightly golden.
Next time I will use less spinach, it was a bit overpowering but I wanted some additional vitamins in there. Very delicious and I even made Rachael Ray’s fast and easy marinara sauce as a dipper but next time I will add some extras like balsamic vinegar for extra kick.
Calzones can be filled with anything! Why buy store-bought frozen stale pizza pockets or deep fried artery killer calzones from the pizzerias when you can make them yourself and indulge in this treat with REAL food? Totally worth it.
Yum, they look great!
These look really yummy!! We’ll have to try it. I’m not a fan of watching Rachael Ray, but I do like some of her recipes! 🙂
I have been wanting to try making calzones for a while. Maybe I’ll make them when I come home next weekend. I’ll probably be wanting pizza by then.
oooh those look so delicious. I make pizza dough in my breadmaker and it takes next to no time at all.
That’s how I make Calzones, too – with Pillsbury Pizza Dough. It’s definitely a short cut but it still tastes good. I like to bake them in the oven. 🙂
shock … how did I not see this before … I so have to try some ….