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Thursday, May 19, 2011

Spinach Ricotta Calzone

I wanted to keep dinner simple tonight because I was completely exhausted. Ever since I started making my own bread I've usually got a nice big batch of bread dough ready and waiting for me in the fridge. If you missed my blog post on making bread, you can read it here! I've made many different variations of this bread, but this is the "master recipe". You can of course make these calzones with store bought pizza dough, but it is much more fun to make it yourself!



Spinach Ricotta Calzone

(makes 1 large calzone)

  • 1lb dough (store bought pizza dough or you can use the boule recipe I used here)
  • 1 cup fresh spinach
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheesec
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, mince
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees with a pizza stone on the middle rack and a broiler pan on a rack beneath it.

Roll the dough out into a 1/8" thick round circle.


In a saute pan, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the spinach and cook for about 2-3 minutes until wilted. Set aside to cool and squeeze out any excess liquid.


Mix the ricotta, egg, salt, pepper and parsley in a small bowl. Add the spinach to the ricotta mixture.


Spread the ricotta and spinach over half of the dough, leaving a 1 inch border all the way around. Brush the outside edge of the dough with water and then fold the dough over and pinch the edge closed (you can also use a fork to crimp it). Cut three slits in the top of your calzone making sure it goes completely through the top layer of dough.


Place the calzone on the hot pizza stone and pour 1 cup of hot water in the broiler tray beneath it. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Let it sit for about 5 minutes before cutting.


I also made a plain garlic and cheese calzone for my daughter, who is terrified of spinach! ;)


2 comments:

  1. This was one of our 'special' dinners growing up! I love calzones so much, my mom had to limit my intake! YUM!

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  2. I've never attempted a calzone before...I might have to try now! This looks awesome!! Yum.

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