Calzones

In my last post about Mini Pizzas I had mentioned that I used half the pizza dough to make two fully loaded calzones.

The recipe for the Calzones is from the book “The best ever Vegetarian Cookbook" by Linda Fraser.I used the delicious and surprisingly tasty Eggplant filling as a topping for one of the pizzas too.

Here's the recipe for the pizza dough and the calzones.

You will need:

For the dough:

1 packet (7g/ ¼ oz) active dry yeast
2 ½ to 3 cups All purpose flour
1 ½ tbsp Olive oil
1 ½ tsp Salt
1 Cup Warm water (110 F)

For the filling:

4 Baby eggplants cubed
3 Shallots chopped
1 tsp Dried Thyme
1 tsp Crushed red pepper
Salt and Pepper
1 tbsp Oil
10 Sun dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
1 Garlic clove chopped

Shredded Mozarella
1-2 tbsp Shredded Parmesan

The method to make the Pizza dough can be found here.

Prepare filling -- Heat oil in a pan. Add shallots and fry till soft. Add the chopped sun dried tomatoes, garlic, thyme, crushed pepper, salt and black pepper. Saute for a a few seconds. Now add the cubed eggplant and sauté till soft. Turn off heat and let cool a little.

Preheat oven to 425F.

Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and form into 2 balls. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet and cover with a damp towel. Let rest for 15 minutes, then transfer to a lightly floured surface and roll out into 2 8-inch circles

Place eggplant shallot tomato filling in the center of one side of each circle, top with a generous amount of shredded mozzarella then fold dough over filling to meet edges of filled side. Crimp edges with a fork or your fingers, then cut a small slit on the top of the calzone to allow steam to escape while cooking. Bake for 8-10 minutes till light brown. Remove from the oven and brush calzones with a layer of olive oil. Sprinkle shredded parmesan on top and serve immediately.

Since these Calzones were so big, they lasted me a good two days! :-D They just got better and better!!