Calzones

Beverage of choice: Pink Lemonade

Soundtrack: Pearl Jam, Backspacer

Oh, how I love these little bread pockets of Italian delights. Really, the term little is relative, but hey, they sound healthier that way. 

The true glory of this recipe is the dough. The homemade dough. With yeast. I promised we would talk about it, so fasten your seat belt and let's talk about how to rule this finicky little creature:

You will need your water to be between 110 and 115 degrees fahrenheit . If you don't have a thermometer, the best way to find that temperature is to put your wrist under the running water. If it feels warm and ALMOST hot, you've got the right temp. I know this sound like those recipes that call for a "pinch and dash", but trust me and the sensitive skin on your inner wrist, it works every time.

Put your sugar and your yeast into either a plastic or a glass bowl. (Yeast and metal don't get along too well) I usually put the sugar in first and dissolve it in the water before adding the yeast. It's just prettier that way. Once I do add the yeast, I don't stir it around too much. It will combine with the water, so stir it once if you wish, then leave it alone.

This is the yeast/sugar/water mixture before.

And this is what it looks like after about 10 minutes.

Now you're ready to add your flour, salt, and oil. Stirring this can all but give you carpal tunnel. Usually I'll mix it around a little bit and then stick my (clean) hands in to really work it into a sticky dough.

Like so.

Next, put the dough on a floured surface. We are not fancy here in the Nyen house, so I knead the dough on the countertop. Knead for about 5 minutes. This is creating gluten fibers in the dough that will trap the air that the yeast gives off as it bakes and make your bread fluffy. Kneading is directly correlated to texture. Don't skip this step.

When you are done kneading, put your dough in a clean and greased (or floured) bowl. Again, be sure the bowl is not a metal one. Cover it with a small, damp towel and place this in your oven. I usually turn my oven on the "warm" setting. Sometimes I'll have it on the "warm" setting for the first half of the time that the dough is rising and turn it off for the second half. This you kind of have to do by feel because all ovens are different. Mostly you want to make sure that you're not baking your dough or melting your bowl (if it's plastic like mine).

After an hour and a half the dough should nearly triple in size.

Meanwhile, about 20 minutes before the dough has finished rising, start prepping your fillings. The beauty of calzones is that I can make mine foo-foo and girlie, and Jake can stuff them with all sorts of pork and beef products. This dish really is a win-win for us.

 

Jake's typical calzone fillings:

Pepperoni

Sweet Italian sausage

Canadian Bacon

Bacon

Ricotta cheese

Mozzarella cheese (we only use the fresh stuff, but pre-shredded works fine too)

Renee's typical calzone fillings:

Sauteed red onions

Sauteed mushrooms

Spinach

Roma tomatoes

Minced garlic

Ricotta cheese

Mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese

So feel free to put whatever you want in there. We do.

Ricotta cheese is a wonderful filling for a calzone, it's not as runny as melted mozzarella (pictured in the big bowl at the bottom-right in "pearl" form) and makes a great base for the other ingredients. (pictured in the big bowl at the top-right.) The recipe will be at the bottom of this post along with the dough.

Back to the dough. Once it is done rising, pull it out of the oven and put it on a floured surface. If you don't have a rolling pin, you can use a tall, straight drinking glass instead. That's what we did in our pre-rolling pin days. Ghetto? Maybe. But it works.

Roll out the dough until its about a quarter of an inch thick.

Cut out a circle. (This is the top of my spring-form pan. It makes a calzone for  a very big boy.) You can cut the circles freehand if you so desire. Also, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Brush the dough with olive oil.

Add your desired fillings. Try not to over-fill. Good luck.

Fold it in half like a burrito and pinch the edges together. Be really thorough here. You don't want your filling to ooze out while baking.

Line them up on a baking sheet. Realistically, you will need two baking sheets. Brush the tops with olive oil. Pop them in the oven for about 25 minutes. Make sure you're watching them, though. In my oven I have to switch the pans to the opposite shelf to avoid the top of one and the bottom of the other being overcooked.

Pull them out when they are an enticing golden color and you can't resist the smell any longer.

We like to serve them with some marinara sauce and not much else. This meal is flavorful, hearty and really delicious.

Here's the recipe for the Ricotta cheese mixture:

8 oz of Ricotta cheese

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

grated parmesan cheese

Stir together.

(yup, that's it)

For the Calzones:

3 teaspoons sugar

2 packages active dry yeast (4 and 1/2 teaspoons)

1 1/4 cups warm water

3 1/4 cups of flour (and more for kneading)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

Olive oil (for brushing)

Mix warm water and sugar with yeast. Set aside for 10 minutes. Stir in flour, salt, and vegetable oil. Mix with your hands if necessary to form a sticky dough.

Knead dough on floured surface for at least five minutes. Put into a an oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel, and place in a warm (but not hot oven) for an hour and a half. Once the dough has more than doubled in size, remove it from the oven and turn the heat up to 425.

Roll the dough out and cut circles in it. (Remember, your calzone will be 1/2 the size of the circle.) Brush with olive oil. Pile desired filling in the middle. Fold the edges of the dough circle together and pinch the edges.

Place on a baking sheet. Brush with olive oil. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with marinara sauce. 

Makes 4 large calzones.

Apple Sauce Doughnuts

Beverage of choice: Milk

Soundtrack: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Audio Book


Yep. We've gone and done it.

Here is the homemade equivalent of food-nirvana. Make these and I defy you to not to eat a dozen in one sitting.

This recipe comes to us courtesy of Jake's mom. She makes them every year at Christmastime and they don't usually last too long.

Yep. They are that good.

This is my mixer. It was one of the best wedding presents we received. I would highly HIGHLY recommend using a mixer for this recipe if you have one. It helps the doughnuts achieve a fluffy texture with which hand-mixing can't compete.

Put 1/3 cup sugar and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder in the bowl. I like my doughnuts really fluffy so I usually make sure that I have just a touch over 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder. Just barely.

This next ingredient is important that you don't substitute. You'll need 2 tablespoons of shortening. Yep, good old-fashioned Crisco. No replacements.

Go on, buy yourself a tub if you don't already have one. It won't go bad until after the apocalypse. I think the only things that keep longer are canned beans and twinkies.

Finally some color! After adding 1 teaspoon of salt, throw in 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.

If you are a rebel like me, you'll add another dash or two of cinnamon. I'm not usually a huge fan of cinnamon, but these suckers are better with more!

2 eggs.
1 tablespoon milk.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
2 cups flour.
1/2 teaspoon baking soda. (again, if you put a touch more than that, it will make these things fluffy as a cloud.)

And for top billing: Apple Sauce.

I can't reiterate how weird it is that I'm obsessed with these doughnuts. I don't like cinnamon and I REALLY don't like apple sauce. Reason for the apple sauce is that when I was a kid and refused to take the chewable children's Tylenol I needed for things like fevers, my mom would grind it up and put it in apple sauce. Decades later, I can't eat apple sauce by itself without shuddering.

Blech.

But it makes for some killer doughnuts, so add 1/2 cup of it to your other ingredients and fire up the mixer.

When it's all mixed up, it should have a consistency thicker than cake batter and thinner than cookie dough. It should be pretty heavy and very sticky.

Now you need some vegetable oil. You'll need to be fairly liberal with it. Sometimes I even do these doughnuts in my wok because it's so big. Be sure that you use a pan that responds well to heat. I would recommend against cast iron here.

Make sure you have enough oil to allow the doughnuts to float. What is shown here is the MINIMUM amount you should use. (It was all I had left.)

I usually turn my oil on about 10 minutes before I'm going to start frying anything. I turn it on medium heat.

Take anywhere from 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the dough and drop it in the hot oil. This is your little tester guy. (You can sing "Little Surfer Girl" to him with the alternate lyrics of "Little Tester Guy" if you want him to reach his full flavor-potential.)

Don't do anymore than 1 teaspoon because they really puff up when they start cooking. You'll end up with a doughnut the size of your fist, and that just takes forever to cook.

When the oil is bubbling around Little Tester Guy, feel free to give him some friends. See how cute and golden he is compared to his friends? He's been in there for about 3-4 minutes.

As you cook your doughnuts, your oil gets steadily hotter. If the oil bubbles too much when you drop the dough in, or if they start browning too fast, feel free to turn it down. It should always be pleasantly bubbly as you drop the doughnuts in.

See the tongs to the left of the pan? I cannot recommend making these without some form of tongs. The hot oil is just a little too dangerous.

These can get pretty dark before they're completely done on the inside. Don't be afraid to let them get brown.

When they are finished, put them on a plate with a paper towel lining so they can cool.

Sorry for the blurriness of this picture. Holding one doughnut while taste-testing another and taking a picture all at the same time gives you prize-winning art like this:

You can do a number of things to enhance the already awesome taste that you've just created.

You can do a powdered sugar frosting. (Butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and a touch of milk)
Or just powdered sugar by itself.

But my personal favorite is cinnamon and sugar.

Take about a cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon (and a pinch of nutmeg if you're feeling crazy) and combine them in a bowl. Then roll your doughnuts around in the mixture. I like to do this while they're still a little bit warm, so the sugar really sticks to the doughnut.

Delicious. That's all that can be said.

These are best when warm. Right out of the pan is great, but even after they've been hanging out in the fridge for a day or two (if they last that long) I would recommend popping them in the microwave for a little while.

Make these for your family, your friends, and even your enemies. You will be loved.

Deeply.


Here's the recipe:

Apple Sauce Doughnuts

1/3 cup sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup apple sauce
Several cups of vegetable oil

1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
nutmeg if desired

Combine all the ingredients into an electric mixer. Mix for 5-7 minutes.

Heat the vegetable oil on medium heat. Drop a test doughnut in. The oil is ready when it bubbles around the dough. Use tongs to flip your doughnuts and remove them from oil. Put them on a paper towel on a plate to cool and drain.

Mix sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together and roll the doughnuts in the sugar mixture.

Enjoy!

~Jake and Renee

Spaghetti and Garlic Bread

Beverages: Red wine, Corona

Soundtrack: Fiction Family

I heart Italian food. 

Truly, madly, deeply.

This is a wonderful spaghetti sauce that is easy to make (no stewing of tomatoes and no difficult seasoning) and is scrumptious.

We usually serve this with Jake's amazing garlic bread and it always hits the spot.

Here are the ingredients you'll need for both:

Start off with your favorite beverage. Tonight it was Yellow Tail's Shiraz and Corona. We're really spendy. Can't you tell? ***NOTE*** Save some wine for the sauce. Thanks.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a pot.

Then chop up a half of a red onion and two green onions and put them in the melted butter. Do this on a low heat. I usually do this part on 3 of 10. I like to cook my onions low and slow. It draws out all sorts of delicious flavors while mellowing the harsh onion-ness.

Let the onions simmer for a while. It will probably take about 10 minutes.

Go entertain yourself by cutting up some sun-dried tomatoes. I used about 4 or 5 here.

Here are your onions, now sufficiently translucent and mouth-watering:

Add your tomatoes and 1 teaspoon of minced garlic. Use 2 cloves if you have the fresh stuff.

Stir mixture gently.

Give these flavors a chance to mingle. The key to this dish is combining your flavors. This step is where the magic happens. Let it have another five minutes on the low heat, stirring occasionally.

Remove this mixture to a separate bowl.

Yay, beef! If I'm honest, raw meat grosses me out a little bit. I deal with it when I have to, but when Jake's around, I give him the opportunity to flex his culinary muscles. This next section is brought to you by Jake's culinary muscles. And his real ones. Which are also nice. Very nice.

Turn your heat to medium-high.

Put the beef in the pot with all the leftover flavored goodness form the onion mixture. Sprinkle it with some garlic salt and some seasoned salt. Don't go crazy. This is just enough to give the meat a little bit of flavor.

Take time to scoop out all the fat.

You know you want to.

All the healthy kids are doing it.

Turn the heat back down to 3 and put your onion mixture back into the pot with the strained beef.

(Technically you could just leave the onions in the pot and cook the beef in a frying pan, but then you would have to wash your original pot and said frying pan, and I'm not really into that sort of thing.)

Add your tomato sauce. (Forgive the ghost thumb.)

Also, add 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning. If you don't have Italian seasoning, put in 1/4 teaspoon of oregano and 1/4 basil. If you have fresh herbs, I hate you a little bit because I don't.

Then the skies open, the angels sing, and it is time for you to add your red wine.

I know this will sound weird, especially after than angelic voices of the last step, but throw in 1 scant teaspoon of white sugar.

Trust me, my child.

Mama Nay would not steer you wrong.

There is more magic happening here than you know. Let your sauce simmer. I usually don't let it simmer for less than 30 minutes. You can even do it for up to 2 hours. Just make sure when you simmer that the heat is on 2 or lower. The goal is simmering, not scalding.

Stir as the spirit leads. Season as desired.  Sample as much as you can get away with.

While the wonderful flavors in the sauce are making themselves more wonderful, slice some bread. We like to use fresh french bread.

Either brush the bread with olive oil OR spread butter on the bread.

Put a thin layer of garlic salt on the oiled bread. Be sure you don't over-salt here. That makes for a lame eating experience later. I know from experience.

You're really going for a dusting here.

Sprinkle some cheese on top of those puppies. We did mozzarella and fresh-grated parmesan on these. Feel free to do either or.

Side note--do you see those two pieces of bread with holes in the middle? It must have risen that way at the bakery. Yeast is such a funny creature. Oh, but such a delicious creature.

That's another blog for another time, though.

Once they're dressed and ready, pop them under your broiler.

(We use tin foil for easy clean-up. Sorry, never promised to be environmentally friendly.)

Be sure you watch these like a hawk.

Cliche? Yes. Kidding? No.

They usually don't take more than 5-6 minutes to get all brown, bubbly, and delicious.

Pull them out when they look like this:

Make some Spaghetti. (I probably should have told you this before you started the bread.  Please forgive. Or serve the bread as an appetizer.)

Pull it out when they are nice and al-dente and whap them on a plate.

Whap is my mother's phrase. Can't help thinking it sometimes when it's hot noodles hit the plate. It just feels like the appropriate thing to say.

Whap.

Pile on the sauce and the cheese and finish the plate off with some of your garlic bread.

This goes wonderfully with a huge crunchy Caesar salad. Sadly, we had no Caesar dressing and this is not the type of blog that requires you to cut up anchovies.

I promise you, I will never make you cut up anchovies.

Enjoy!

Spaghetti and Meat Sauce:

1 tbsp butter

1/2 red onion, diced

2 green onions, diced

1 tsp minced garlic

4 or 5 chopped sun-dried tomatoes

3/4 to 1 lb ground beef

garlic salt

seasoned salt

1/2 tsp if Italian seasoning

1 scant tsp white sugar 

1 8oz jar of tomato sauce (mushroom is best)

1/2 cup of red wine

Melt butter in a pot. Dice red onion, green onion, and sun dried tomatoes. Sauté onions in butter over a low heat until they are transparent. Add garlic and sun dried tomatoes. Sauté for several more minutes. Remove to separate bowl.

Turn heat on pot up to medium-high and cook beef with a dusting of garlic and seasoned salt. Drain accordingly. Add the onion mixture, Italian seasoning, tomato sauce, red wine, and white sugar.

Allow sauce to simmer for at least 30 minutes on low heat.

Cook spaghetti.

Pour sauce over the spaghetti and serve.

Garlic Bread:

Desired slices of bread

olive oil/butter

garlic salt

mozzarella and/or parmesan cheese

Slice desired amount of bread. Brush on olive oil or spread on butter. Place slices of bread on a baking sheet.

SPARINGLY dust the bread with garlic salt.

Sprinkle on cheese.

Place in broiler for 5-6 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling.

Remove from oven and enjoy!