Calzones - Is there anything better?



Isn't it lovely?
Calzones - What could be better?



Calzones are kind of like a stuffed pizza like dough pocket.   Delicious for lunch or dinner, this Italian delight is found in pizza shops around the world.  Most pizza shops have the cheese calzones, without any kind of meat.   You can make yours that way, if you wish, or add meat, such as prosciutto, ham, sausages, chicken or meatballs!  

You can even opt to make a vegetarian version, using sautéed spinach, kale or swiss chard.  You can change it up, based on left overs from previous meals.

Here, I will present a prosciutto and cheese calzone.   This is one of my favorite recipes.   I use part skim cheeses here, so that it is not too entirely sinful.  You can use whole milk cheeses, but I don’t think you will notice the difference making this lower fat version….

Ingredients:

·         1 lb Ricotta cheese, part skim

·         8 oz shredded mozzarella, part skim

·         ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

·         ½ lb thin sliced Italian prosciutto or ham

·         ½ tsp salt

·         Pizza Dough ( See my Pizza Dough Recipe )

·         Egg whites, beaten

Directions:

Place the Ricotta in a strainer, lined with cheese cloth.  Place over a bowl and allow it to drain over night in your refrigerator.  You need to remove as much moisture from the cheese as possible.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Mix the mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan and salt in a bowl.

Separate pizza dough into small balls, and flatten to make 8 inch circles, a little thicker than an 1/8 inch.

Spoon the cheese filling into half of the circle and be sure to leave about a half inch border.

Place a few slices of the prosciutto on top of the cheese.

Brush the borders of the dough with water and fold over the dough to form the calzone.  Press the edges firmly to seal the dough pocket.  You don’t want it to burst open, so take care to do this part correctly.

Place on top of oiled pan.  Brush with egg whites.  Cut a small vent hole in the top of the calzone.  Let sit for about 15 minutes.  The dough will rise a little and the calzones will look a little puffy.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Enjoy this wonderful Italian recipe by itself, or serve with a side of tomato sauce.

Focaccia - The grandparent of the modern pizza!

Focaccia is the great grandparent of the modern day pizza!  You can bake this bread today, and capture the flavors that date back to the times of old.

Enjoy it next to your favorite Italian meals.  The recipe here is a guideline.  By all means, adapt it to your tastes.   You can turn this into amazing garlic bread.   Don’t like onions, omit them.   There are no limits what you can do with this Italian recipe.
   
Ingredients:

•    1 packet active dry yeast
•    1 ½ cups warm water
•    1 tablespoon brown sugar
•    4 bread cups flour
•    ½ cup corn meal OR semolina flour
•    1 tablespoon sea salt
•    ¼ cup olive oil plus 3 Tbsp for topping
•    1 small onion, thinly sliced
•    ½ teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
•    ½ teaspoon dried oregano
•    ½ teaspoon dried basil
 
Directions:

•    Dissolve the brown sugar in the warm water, then add yeast  and let stand for 15 minutes
•    Add the ¼ cup of olive oil.
•    Add the flour, corn meal,  1 ½ tsp of the salt and mix in your mixer using the dough hook for about 15 minutes, alternatively, you can kneed by hand, but choose to use the mixer.
•    Coat with olive oil, place in a bowl and cover.   Let rise for about 45 minutes, until the size of the dough ball has doubled in size.
•    After it has doubled, punch down the dough and cover again.   Allow it to rise again for another 45 minutes.
•    Coat a Jellyroll pan, Square Pizza Pan or something similar with olive oil.    Press the dough into the pan using your hands.  Press it out all the way to the ends of the pan, making a lip around the edges.  Using your fingers or knuckles, make indentations across the whole surface.
•    Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 15-20 minutes. While it is rising, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  If you have a bread stone, preheat it at this time.
•    Mix the topping: in a bowl add the remaining salt oil and spices.   Mix well.
•    Remove the plastic wrap and evenly coat the focaccia with the topping.   Be gentle when doing this.
•    Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
•    Cover the focaccia with foil, so that it doesn’t brown too much more and bake for another 15 minutes.
•    Remove from oven, remove foil and slice into rectangular pieces.  I use a pizza cutter to do this easily.

When making this, use your imagination.   You can put some thin sliced tomatoes, minced garlic, or whatever you desire.

I hope you have enjoyed making this Italian focaccia!   It is an excellent addition to your bread baking repertoire.

Grandmothers Italian Chicken Soup - easy chicken soup recipe

Grandma's Chicken Soup

My grandma made this easy chicken soup recipe.   She called it Italian Chicken Soup, which was good enough for me, as a kid.    It was quite simple…    Chicken meat, chicken broth, possibly some chopped carrots and some orzo pasta, or rice…

When serving it, we would sprinkle a spoonful of grated Parmesan cheese on top.  It would melt, stick to your spoon, but it would taste so great!!!

Usually, she would use some leftover chicken meat for the soup. At times, she might resort to using a can of swanson canned chicken, if she didn’t have leftover chicken and really wanted some soup.   As she was getting on in years, her eyesight started to go.   One day, when I was sick, she mistakenly used a can of tuna, instead of chicken.   She wanted to give me something hot, to deal with the flu I was suffering with.   

Now, being sick, I knew my tastes buds were off, but, I knew something was wrong.   Especially since I can’t stand tuna fish!   So, I said, hey Grandma! Something is wrong with this soup!   She said let me look at the can… Oh, it’s tuna instead of chicken!   Eat it anyway!   Oh my goodness, it was so nasty…  So, the moral of the story:  Don’t mistake tuna for chicken….

Needless to say, other than that one time, her chicken soup was something I truly looked forward to.   These days, I make my own version, based on her soup.

Here is what I do:

I go to the market and buy two or three rotisserie chickens.   The family will eat one for dinner.   I will remove the meat from the remaining chickens and put it in the refrigerator.   All of the bones and skin, I put in a big pot and fill it with water.

I then boil it for a few hours to make a broth.   After boiling, I pour out the liquid and strain it into a few containers and let cool.  Then, I refrigerate the broth over night.

The next day, the fat will rise to the top of the broth and solidify.   I remove the fat.  Now, I have a gallon or more of homemade chicken broth. 

That is how I make my broth.   Really simple, but takes some time.    You can choose to buy already made broth, if you want, and sometimes I do.  But, if you have the time, you can’t beat this broth.

When I want to make the soup, I chop up some carrots and put them in the pot with the broth.    I also cut up some of that left over rotisserie chicken and put it in the pot as well.

Next, I add some spices.  Thyme is excellent.  I always add some minced garlic. Sometimes, I add chopped leeks.

Simmer it for about a half hour or more, depending on how soft you want your carrots.    Add the orzo, and simmer for another 15 minutes…

Salt to taste!  This is the beauty of making the broth yourself.  You can tailor the salt to your liking.

Ladle out into a bowl and sprinkle with some grated parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed making my version of Grandma’s chicken soup.   It brings back memories for me every time I eat it.    If you wish to can the soup, don’t put in the orzo pasta.  Pressure can it without any pasta.   You can add the pasta when you are heating it up, to eat.    

This is an Authentic Italian Recipe that I hope you will try!

Manicotti - Oh Man!!!!!!

Manicotti is one of those things that is just so amazing.   These taste so great, truly a gourmet meal, fit for a king.   Ever since I was a small boy, I loved these even better than stuffed shells or ravioli.  One of my all time favorites.



Manicotti is delicious!
Here, pictured with some garlic knots made from some pizza dough



The thing that makes these manicotti amazing is the pasta crepes that you make yourself!  Don’t worry, it is easy.   Don’t be intimidated and get the manicotti shells pasta in the box.  These are in a completely different league.   If you can make a pancake, you can make these. 

You can also wrap the crepes in plastic wrap and freeze them, or store in the refrigerator for a few days.

Ingredients

Crepes:

·         1 cup flour

·         1 cup water

·         3 large eggs

·         ½ tsp salt

·         Olive Oil for use in the pan while cooking

Filling:

·         2 pounds part skim ricotta

·         6 oz shredded mozzarella

·         ½ cup grated parmesan cheese

·         1 large egg

·         2 tbsp parsley

·         ¼ tsp salt

You will also need sauce and some extra mozzarella for melting on top.

Directions

First, you will want to make the crepe mixture:  

Simply whisk together all of the ingredients for the crepes in a bowl until smooth and well mixed.   Cover and place in your refrigerator for about a half hour.

While the crepe mixture is chilling, make the filling:

Beat the egg in a large bowl.

Add the other ingredients slowly while stirring.

Now, make the crapes

Heat a small skillet and lightly coat with oil.  Use medium heat.  

Pour about a 1/3 cup of the crepe mix into the pan and rotate the pan, so that the mixture covers the entire bottom of the pan. 

After cooking for about a minute, the edges will start to turn brown and start to lift.  That is your signal to flip the crepe over and cook for about another half minute.

Remove the crepe from the pan and place on waxed paper.   Continue with the remaining batter to make all of your crepes in the same way.

And the grand finale

At this point, we have our filling and crepes.   Now, we need to assemble the Manicotti.

Ladle some sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish, or 13 x 9 pyrex baking dish.

Spoon about a ¼ cup of the filling onto a crepe.  Roll the crepe and place in the casserole dish seam side down.    Repeat for all of the manicotti.

When all of the manicotti are rolled and in the pan, ladle some sauce on top.   I usually sprinkle a little mozzarella and parmesan on top at this point.

Cover with foil.  Make a tent, so that the cheese doesn’t stick to the foil.

Bake for about 45 minutes.

Serve piping hot!   Enjoy with some garlic bread, a nice salad and a glass of Chianti!