"calzone" news and stories

Being a bit of a bread friend, I try to keep some on hand at all times -- fresh when possible, and always at least a few slices in the freezer. But sometimes you just run out. Usually when that happens, I'll whip up a pizza with that quick and tasty dough I posted about before. But the other day, I was in the mood for eggs, and I just don't like having them without some sort of bread.

So, I decided to make a bowl-shaped calzone you see above. It's simple. After rolling out some dough, I sprayed a french onion soup bowl with non-stick cooking spray and used it to make a bowl out of my dough. I then put in a collection of ingredients that included eggs and cheese. I joined the dough at the top to seal it in, cut off the excess, and threw it in my toaster oven. The bowl allowed me to keep the gooey eggs and ingredients together without spilling, and the spray let the nice calzone slip out of the bowl with complete ease.

This can also work in a myriad of ways -- imagine using the same technique in small muffin tins and making pizza pockets or other hors douvres pastries, or putting a whole meal inside one -- like meatloaf with a good gravy, a tuna melt, or even a sort of pizza-themed pot pie.

I made a batch of Italian style sausage and peppers the other day and have a lot of leftovers. Most of it I froze in individual servings to quickly reheat over the next few weeks. But I got to thinking about portable lunches using the leftover sausage and peppers and the thought of calzones popped into my head.

Sausage and Peppers

• Fry up a package of sweet or hot Italian sausages, about one pound, and set aside to cool.
• Fry up one each of sliced onion, red and/or green bell pepper in olive oil until slightly softened.
• Slice the cool sausages into thin slices on the diagonal.
• Put sausage slices, onions, peppers, 1 tablespoon oregano, and a 1/2 cup of tomato or spaghetti sauce in a pan, heat gently for 3-4 minutes.
• Serve on sliced Italian bread for sandwiches, with pasta, or reserve for calzones.

Halloween is a holiday that is purely about fun and, for us at Slashfood, that means that we want to play with our food a little bit. This school lunch, dubbed the lunchbox of the damned from Vegan Lunchbox is the most creative way we've seen to have some seasonal fun with food. The two shrunken heads are absolutely brilliant, made by carving a face into a peeled apple before baking it, which leaves it with a wrinkly skin, soft texture and concentrated apple flavor. Each apple, er, head, has two little cloves for eyes. The highlight of the meal is the mummified calzone with a bucket of blood dipping sauce. Jennifer photographed the way she folded the dough for the veggie calzone before baking it, and it is easy to recreate based on her diagram. Her blood is pizza sauce.

Even if you don't pack a lunch, although this is sure to be a hit on the playground, you can use these ideas to prepare a great Halloween dinner for yourself and your family, if you're not going to go all out with an elaborate Halloween party instead.

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