I have already posted about my family’s Saturday Pizza Night and today I’d like to suggest a tasty and easy alternative to the traditional pizza: calzoni!

A calzone is a folded pizza, usually shaped like a half-moon and stuffed with cheese, tomato and possibly vegetables, meat, and/or sauce, and baked or fried. I prefer the baked version as it is lighter. I have made my calzoni using three different fillings: the simplest version with tomato, mozzarella and oregano; a richer variant with mozzarella marinated artichockes and mushrooms (previously cooked); and a very traditional stuffing with mozzarella and anchovies. Always use a dry mozzarella, like the grated mozzarella you can easily find in any supermarket, otherwise the calzoni will come out too moist. Yes, the dreaded ‘soggy bottom’ exists in Italian cuisine too!

To make calzoni you can use the pizza recipe from my previous post:

https://easyitalian.cooking/2021/02/12/saturday-night-is-pizza-night/

Once the dough is risen and ready, divide it into six equal portions and roll into a circle, 300 g of flour will make 6 calzoni.

On one half of the dough, spread the ingredients. Anything that goes on a pizza can go into a calzone: the pizza fillings are placed on one half of the circular shaped pizza dough. The dough is then folded over, crimped with a fork, coated with a brush of milk or olive oil and baked in the oven at 200 C for about 12 minutes.

🍷 AGNESE RECOMMENDS …

With pastry foods it’s always better to drink wine rather than beer. I would recommend a wine from Trentino Alto Adige: Lagrein from DOC Adige. 

 A fairly well-known wine abroad, I recommend the more acidic rosé version, or the young red version.  It is a dry and fruity wine, warm and with well-balanced tannins, which enhances the flavours of the filling of our yummy calzoni!