Yum
Calzone… Stromboli… pizza pop…… I know this dish to go by many names. Though each are different the essence of them remains similar… pizza in hand held form and easy to move from freezer to oven to plate to mouth. I remember loving Pizza Pops as a kid… as an adult I’m prepared to make my own from scratch and want more meat, more cheese, more spice and actually more everything from these perfect make ahead meals.
I had wanted to make these for a while and I finally got around to it, making a few extra to stash in the freezer for those days when time is short and the comfort craving is hard to manage. I have to admit that it was a bit of a challenge to make these in a size that fits in the hand and they ended up being quite a bit larger than I had anticipated. One is more than enough to fulfill a meal and I suspect almost equivalent to a personal pizza.
I started these with a homemade sauce that came from combining some scratch tomato paste I had from leftover tomatoes this summer; adding a small jar of slow roasted tomatoes I also had canned in the fall and infusing it with more flavour by adding fresh garlic, salt, pepper and some fresh oregano I have growing under a lamp for the winter, mixing and heating it all together in a pan. You certainly do not have to go to these lengths and I probably wouldn’t have but I had these things handy in the cupboard…. and I didn’t have pizza sauce.
The dough recipe I used was the 2 ingredient pizza dough I posted previously. I found that 1 cup to 1cup ratio made 8 good sized calzones. Depending on how thick or thin you make the dough this amount could change but I would caution against making the dough too thin, which is the way we like it, though not the best plan for these to be able to hold everything together well.
Fill these with your favourite ingredients and bake for 20 minutes (until golden brown) and serve or vacuum seal and freeze for later use.
I made two kinds:
Bacon, pepperoni, caramelized onions and cheese for P’s and pepperoni, bison Italian sausage, caramelized onions, green peppers, mushroom and habanera cheese for mine…. There was a lot to fill these and I found the best way to distinguish which were which was to slit the tops twice for one variation and 3 times for the other. Also it helps that P’s have mozzarella which is white (and sprinkled some on top) and mine have cheddar which is orange.
These are a winner and so nice to have around when pressed for time. I say the next time the weather is crappy spend some time making these for when it’s nice out and you don’t want to spend time making dinner.
Calzones
Home made Pizza Sauce
- 1/4 tomato paste
- 1/2 slow roasted tomatoes
- 1 large garlic clove
- 2 – 3 sprigs of oregano
- pinch of salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and sauté for 5 minutes and allow to cool before placing on pizza dough.
Divide the dough recipe into 8 and roll each out into a 8 to 10 inch circle. Fill have with all your favourite pizza toppings and fold over and seal. Brush the top with egg white and place on parchment to bake at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes. Bake until lightly golden if you want to freeze and store so you can bake them again to bring them to a nice golden brown. Or… bake until nicely browned and enjoy straight from the oven.