Pork Calzones

[Deleted]

Pork Calzones



12 Pork Calzones

1-1/2 pounds ground pork
1 large onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 ribs celery, minced
1 carrot, minced
1 sweet yellow or red pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
1 tablespoon fennel seeds (optional)
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Fine sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste
2 packages ready made pizza dough, each divided into 6 equal pieces

In a sauté pan, brown the pork in its own fat, along with the onion and garlic. Pour off the fat. Add the celery, carrot, sweet pepper, and fennel and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft and the mixture is fairly dry. Add the wine and raise the heat to high; continue cooking until most of the wine has evaporated. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in the tomato sauce. Season with oregano, salt and pepper. Set the mixture aside to cool while you roll out the dough.
Roll each piece out on the floured surface into a 6- to 7- inch round. Spread about 1/3 cup of the filling over one half of each round. Fold the dough over the filling to form a turnover or half-moon shape, and crimp and seal the edges with a fork dipped in flour.
Place the calzones at least 1 inch apart on baking sheets that have been sprayed with olive oil. Brush the tops of the calzones with the beaten egg and sprinkle sesame seeds and coarse salt over the tops. With scissors, cut a small X in the center of each calzone. Allow the calzones to rise for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Bake the calzones for 25 to 30 minutes, until they are golden brown on the top and bottom. Remove them from the baking sheets with a wide spatula and let them cool slightly on cooling racks. Best warm.


Mary Ann Esposito

[kit]

Sounds delicious. This might also be good using Italian sausage as well, or any other meat you like.

[Clipper]

We have made calzones with sausage as well as other fillings. We cooked the loose Italian sausage first and then mixed it with mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. We have also used bell peppers, garlic and onions and sauteed them lightly before filling the calzone. They are a great alternative to pizza. We usually make a few extra and freeze them raw for later use. Let the frozen ones thaw in the refrigerator over night before brushing with the egg wash and baking.

It is difficult to find pizza dough in the stores here, other than the ready made shells. Kathy usually makes her own. I seldom see the bags of dough in the refrigerated section such as we used to buy in Utica that came from a local bakery. We HAVE recently found a pizza place that will sell us dough. We have bought it and made our own pizza here at home. I bought a pizza stone for the oven a couple of years ago. It is a project to make home made pizza with the stone and it takes a while to heat the oven and stone to 500 degrees so we don't do it very often.

We have bought the pizza dough to make fried dough and it is pretty good, but Kathy prefers to either make her own dough for fried dough or to buy frozen bread dough.

[Clipper]

Alan, I think that the first calzone recipe that Kathy tried was also from Mary Ann Esposito. I bought her a Mary Ann Esposito cook book several years ago when it was advertised on another Utica area forum that has since gone away. The actual website domain was sold to Bill Keeler if I remember correctly. It was strange and unexpected to those of us that were members on that forum. I am sure Dave recalls it better than I do. He was a member for a lot longer than I was.

Using the recipe that you posted, does the fennel seed make it taste like Italian sausage or is it fairly bland rather like a pork pot pie.

[Clipper]

We are going to make some calzones today Alan. We have several salvage grocery outlets around here. The other day Kathy and I stopped at one just to see what they had available. They get merchandise from trucks that have wrecked, overstock from other retail outlets, etc. I have bought canned goods for 5 or 6 bucks a case, as well as pickles, salsa, and other jarred goods.

This particular store happened to have fresh crimini mushrooms in bulk. We bought about 5 pounds, brought them home, sliced them, sauteed them in a little extra virgin olive oil and a touch of butter, and packaged them for freezing.

Today we will use some to make calzones with sausage, mushrooms, peppers, and cheese. Kathy may make the dough herself or I may go to our local pizza joint and buy some dough. I am glad you posted about the pork calzones. It has had me wanting a calzone ever since.

[Deleted]

Feb 16, 2016 11:17:26 GMT -5 Clipper said:

Alan, I think that the first calzone recipe that Kathy tried was also from Mary Ann Esposito. I bought her a Mary Ann Esposito cook book several years ago when it was advertised on another Utica area forum that has since gone away. The actual website domain was sold to Bill Keeler if I remember correctly. It was strange and unexpected to those of us that were members on that forum. I am sure Dave recalls it better than I do. He was a member for a lot longer than I was.

Using the recipe that you posted, does the fennel seed make it taste like Italian sausage or is it fairly bland rather like a pork pot pie.

Yep the fennel seed gives it the sweet sausage taste.

[Deleted]

Clipper how did they turn out.

[Clipper]

She is putting them together and preheating the oven as we speak. I will let you know later. I suspect they will be delicious. In 20 yrs with Kathy I can't remember any occasions when her cooking skills failed us.

[Clipper]

The calzones were delicious Alan. The only thing that would make them better would be if we had some decent Italian sausage to use. I haven't made any sausage in quite a while. I may have to get my rear in gear and make a batch to use for patties on the grill for summer cookouts. We ended up using the dough from the pizza parlor. We went for a ride this afternoon to check out some campgrounds and didn't get home in time for Kathy to feel like messing with making dough. Thanks for posting the thread on pork calzones. I have been drooling in anticipation of having Kathy make calzones ever since.

[Deleted]

You are so lucky Clipper. Gee to bad there wasn't a way to send Italian sausage down to you through the mail. Once frozen along with those ice packs I think it would be ok. I ordered bratwurst from Nebraska last year and it arrived really frozen. We even had an Uncle shipped up here when he died and he was really frozen.

[Clipper]

We used to fill coolers with meat and then stop at Sunset Carbonic on the way out of town to get dry ice. The frozen meat would be hard as a brick when we got back here to Tennessee after two days on the road. Since we have been coming North with the travel trailer we simply fill the freezer and keep it running on propane and put the rest of what we purchase in a cooler with ice. It keeps cold enough to be okay until we get home vacuum package it and freeze it. I did have a friend up there buy Hoffman's hot dogs, some Chanatry's hot sausage and Pulaski keilbasa, freeze it with dry ice and ship it to us once. It was not worth it. Over and above the cost of 45 lbs of meat, the shipping with UPS was $60. Since then I simply treat myself to what meat we can bring home with us from vacation and make some of my own sausage in between if pork butts come on sale and I feel ambitious enough to do the work of making sausage. We also usually purchase several cans of Grandma Browns beans. Our trip home starts with coffee and a dozen goodies from Holland Farms. The Holland Farms goodies don't get very good mileage. They are usually gone by the time we get to Harrisburg Pa. hahaha.