Chorizo and Cheddar Calzones

Calzones: what fun! It was like a mid-week party for two.

How easy and simple. I wonder why I didn't think to make them sooner. Perhaps when I have pizza dough around it comes down to the fact that I love pizza too much to forego its traditional use. But these calzones have won me over completely.  Pizza dough is fair game now: it will be my crusty, crunchy vehicle for other delicious creations.

We cut the ball of dough into fourths. Each one of these fourths would form one personal-sized calzone (read: huge dinner). The dough balls rested on a floured board for about a half-hour as the oven preheated to 400 degrees.

When they were ready to be rolled, each ball was shaped into a wide circle of thin dough. Half of each circle was then spread generously with fresh tomato sauce, then topped with our filling of diced onions, spicy soy chorizo, and lots of cheddar cheese. The dough was then folded over the top of the filling and pressed on all sides with a fork dipped in a little milk to seal. All was done within minutes, and they went into the oven to bake:

Holy piping-hot cheesy, oozy goodness! I couldn't even believe my eyes or mouth. M and I barely spoke during dinner. How could we? And why should we? There were these calzones to be eaten. The talking came afterward, once our plates were cleaned and our mouths smiling. We sat at the table for a long time then, the darkness hovering outside as we lingered, completely relaxed and fulfilled.

That's what I call a perfect weeknight.


Calzones: serves 2-4 depending on how much dough and fillings you use
Ingredients:
1 package store-bought herbed pizza dough, cut into fourths
Flour for the board
1 cup tomato sauce
Fillings of your choice: we used 1/2 package of soy chorizo and 3/4 cup mixed cheddar and Mexican blend cheese for a non-traditional calzone
2 T. milk

Directions:
Dust the board with flour and let the dough rest, covered with a dish towel. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. When ready, roll each dough ball out into a circle until the dough is rather thin but not thin enough to break, about 1/4 inch. spread sauce over half of each circle, leaving about 1/2 inch of room around the sides.  Then add the filling, again leaving room around the sides, and gently pull the other half of the dough over the filling. With a fork dipped in milk, fold the sides over each other and press down gently to seal. Poke a few holes in the top of each calzone and brush with the rest of the milk. Transfer to a pan or pizza stone and bake until crusty, firm, and uniformly golden brown. Serve immediately.