The (Cal)Zone Diet

Mini Calzones

Exploring a new kitchen supply store always leads to buying something experimental. For me, it was a pastry press from the new Chef’s store in Orange, CT. It’s great for fruit tarts, large ravioli or mini calzones.

I thought I’d continue with my Italian theme and make calzones. Once again this was a fun collaboration with Tom and our friend Noah. We thought we’d try pizza dough from our favorite place for late night pizza, BAR New Haven. Their dough was so much easier to work with than the stuff from the grocery store. I don’t think we can ever go back! (Goodbye whole wheat dough!)

I cooked up a bunch of different fillings and displayed them in bowls so it was like a “make your own calzone” bar. We had lots of wine to taste leftover from a tasting earlier that day at Caseus. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it!

Wine sampling

Here are tips when making mini calzones in a press:

• Instead of grated cheese, use ricotta mixed with grated cheese and an egg to prevent it oozing out
• Try to keep the filling tightly together before pressing since it will shrink in the oven
• Lightly flour the press (exclude the edges) so it doesn’t stick
• Don’t press too hard or you’ll squish the dough instead of sealing it
• Brush the calzones with an egg wash before baking for a nice crust

Dinner Tourist

My mom waiting to serve and dad taking photos

Thanksgiving was special this year because I got to visit my parents in my hometown with Tom. I hadn’t been home since I moved to CT two and a half years ago. I felt like a tourist, researching local breweries in Ashville and Boone and stopping in antique shops to buy Christmas gifts. It made for a memorable holiday; especially when we all sat down to eat.

 

My mother and I take pride in our Thanksgiving meal. We use the best ingredients- everything is homemade. Since Tom is a restaurant owner, I wanted everything to be perfect (which also resulted in a lengthier prep time). We used an apple cider glaze for our turkey and the gravy from the turkey came out a dark wine color as a result. It was perfectly cooked. The white meat was tender and moist and the dark meat was juicy and really flavorful.

While we cooked, we sipped Madeira and snacked on cheese from Caseus. I decided to mix it up a little when it came to our vegetable dish. I found a recipe for jerk spiced Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and chic peas. I first crisped up the veggies in a pan of oil, and then baked them at high heat with honey, butter, salt, and pepper. Then I sprinkled the spice mixture all over to give it that jerk flavor.

 

Our sweet potatoes were really small and skinny from the local farmers market. My mom meticulously peeled and scraped the baked potatoes, then put them in the food processor to make them nice and smooth.

The salad had a pomegranate seed dressed with very thinly sliced red onion over arugula with mandarin orange slices.

I found a recipe for homemade sweet yeast rolls that I had rising in a bowl while we cooked. Just before we started to set the table, I popped them in the oven, first coating them with heavy cream.  

 I made a pecan pie with a chocolate crust and my mom did a traditional pumpkin pie. When it was time for dessert, I made some whipped cream with sugar and vanilla.

You're not the Kielbasa me!

Dirty

Until I moved to Connecticut permanently, I spent my summers here at my grandparent’s house. We had huge Russian home cooked meals every night. Sometimes, if my grandmother was too tired, she would just put out all the makings of a killer sandwich for all us kids to put together. I loved those nights. The simplicity of a sandwich on a plate for dinner with a good beer (or wine!) is something I hold dear to my heart.

   

Poured some 2006 Domaine Jean-Marc
Bouley Clos des Chenes 

Tom bought some mighty fine looking kielbasa and wanted a hearty sandwich for dinner. So I bought some grinder rolls, sauerkraut, peppers and onions and went to work! I first browned the chopped peppers and onions with salt and pepper in an iron skillet. Then I added the kielbasa in large chunks. After a few minutes, I added a bottle of Magic Hat’s Summer weiss Elder Betty and a bottle of hard cider. I let that simmer on low for about 30 minutes (MMmmm I can almost smell it now…) I toasted the grinder rolls with some sea salt butter and loaded them up. I topped it with cheese and broiled until melted. Then I topped that with the sauerkraut and served North Carolina hot dill pickles on the side.

I was stuffed halfway through this bad boy, but I finished it no problem because the flavors were so nice! And for dessert? My left over cake pops over cookies and cream ice cream! Hello heart attack!

Olive you, too!

For Christmas, I received a lovely cookbook called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Don't let the name fool you, I still had to let it rise a total of 3 hours. Between each of the bread recipes are recipes for soups, dips, pasta dish, and anything else you’d eat with bread! I’ve only done two bread recipes thus far and I’m already hooked. The first recipe from the book I tried was olive tapenade bread. We had just gotten snowed in so I made do with ingredients we already had.

I used two different jars of Spanish olives leftover in the fridge and a jar of spicy peppers, capers, and celery. I chopped everything together and voila! Olive tapenade!

The bread recipe was simple, using only 4 cups of water, 6 cups of flour, some kosher salt, and yeast. I halved the recipe in case I failed miserably. Luckily, I succeeded cheerfully!

There are two things I will do differently next time. I will add more tapenade, as there wasn’t nearly enough. And secondly, I need to practice my scoring techniques. As you can see from the photo, the crust’s design looks like I did it under the influence! Cuts should be drawn no more than a quarter of an inch deep.

 

The bread turned out moist, almost custard like. I decided to make a Reuben sandwich. I bought Boar’s Head corned beef and sauerkraut, along with Thousand Island dressing and Cape Cod potato chips. I used mozzarella and Gruyére cheese instead of Swiss cheese. The combination of freshly baked bread, hot melted cheese, and a warm house among snowy conditions made the meal taste positively delightful.