Calzones for Super Bowl Sunday

Calzones. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Super Bowl eats are all about hearty flavors and who better to deliver the goods than Emeril Lagasse? This calzone recipe from last fall's #SeriousSandwich blogalong is a game-winning touchdown, just right for sharing with family in the glow of the flat screen.

The recipe makes four calzones; I make them half-size, yielding eight breads that fit smaller hands and appetites.

Sopressata and Genoa Salami Calzones

4 calzones

I love this calzone with a variety of salami, but this is a recipe where you can safely go in many directions. Change up the cheese, use roasted red peppers or sautéed mushrooms instead of the meat, add Roasted Garlic (page 79) . . . I could go on and on. And you don’t have to eat them right out of the oven, either—they travel well, so pack your picnic basket!

1 recipe Semolina Pizza Dough (use Emeril’s recipe, or your favorite homemade or storebought)

1 cup Quick Tomato Sauce for Calzones (recipe follows) or your favorite jarred pizza/pasta sauce

1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

8 ounces mixed sopressata, hot sopressata, Genoa salami, and/or pepperoni, chopped

1 cup ricotta cheese, drained

8 ounces smoked mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

¼ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Flour or cornmeal, for dusting the pizza peel

1. Place a pizza stone in the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 500°F. (Alternatively, place an upside-down rimmed baking sheet on the rack in your oven.)

2. Halve one of the pieces of dough and roll it out on a lightly floured work surface to form two 8-inch rounds. Spread ¼ cup of the tomato sauce over the bottom half of each round, leaving a 1-inch border. Sprinkle ¼ cup of the basil and one-quarter of the cured meats evenly over each portion of sauce. Sprinkle one-quarter of the ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, and crushed red pepper over each portion of meat. Gently fold the top half of the dough over the filling, rolling and pressing the edges together with your fingertips to seal them, and crimping as you go along. Make 2 more calzones with the remaining ingredients.

3. Depending on the size of your oven, you may be able to bake only 2 calzones at a time. Cut several small slits in the top of each calzone to allow air to escape while baking, and transfer the calzones to a pizza peel that has been lightly dusted with flour or cornmeal (to facilitate moving the dough). Tilt the pizza peel to slide the calzones onto the preheated baking stone. Bake for 16 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the dough is cooked through. Remove the calzones from the oven with the pizza peel or a spatula, and serve immediately or at room temperature.

Quick Tomato Sauce for Calzones

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

One 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, drained and pureed

1 sprig fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook for 3 minutes, until soft. Add the tomatoes, thyme sprig, salt, and pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the extra-virgin olive oil, discard the thyme sprig, and set aside until ready to use.

This recipe is reprinted with permission from "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches: Stacked with Flavor" (Morrow Cookbooks, $24.99)

For more of Emeril's kicked-up sandwiches cooked by some fantastic bloggers, check out my #SeriousSandwich Pinterest board. Emeril's website, www.emerils.com, features football favorites for your Super Bowl party.

Nature's Most Perfect Food: the Calzone

You thought I was going to say pizza, didn't you? For years, when I craved comfort, I made pizza. Yeasty dough, garlicky sauce and bubbling cheese made heaven on a plate. Always looking for something new to try, I made calzones last year, and I'm a convert now. The calzone, for the uninitiated, is a rolled-up pizza, all the fillings encased in the dough. Genius.

I make a slightly different dough from my tried and true pizza dough (see earlier post), fill it with a variety of porkular products (sausage, bacon, ham), gooey cheese, Parm, and the slightest bit of an easy breezy tomato sauce, roll and bake it. These are so good, it's embarrassing to admit how quickly my small family scarfs them down.

The original dough recipe calls for a mixer. I use the food processor, just because that's what I'm used to. If using the mixer, switch to a dough hook for the kneading, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Calzones

Dough
3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour (I've had good results with all-purpose flour as well)
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

Combine the flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and olive oil in the bowl of the food processor fitted with the bread blade. With the processor running, add about 1 1/4 cups room temperature water. Mix until the dough comes together in a ball, just a couple of minutes. Touch the dough, if it islightly sticky, then it's done. If the dough seems dry, add a bit more liquid, tablespoon by tablespoon, until you get the right consistency. Using the food processor, knead the dough for a minute or two.

Pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil into a bowl that's larger than the dough ball. Place the dough in the bowl and then turn the dough so that ball is coated with the olive oil. Cover the bowl and leave at room temperature if using in a few hours, or place in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Tomato Sauce

1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes (organic, if you can find them)
2 or more cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the ingredients together. No need to cook, unless you feel so led.

Filling

About 1 or 2 cups of assorted bits that are probably kicking around your fridge or freezer. I keep a special container in my freezer with odd amounts of leftover sauteed spinach and mushrooms, bits of ham, cooked and crumbled bacon and sausage. For a good melting cheese, I buy the shredded pizza cheese (not exactly gourmet, so sue me).

Assemble and Bake Calzones

The surprise with this dough is that you don't use extra flour when rolling it out, just extra oil and it doesn't stick. Take the dough out of the refrigerator, set it on a lightly oiled counter, and divide into four pieces. Roll each piece into ball. Let the dough rise at room temperature for up to two hours (I have successfully skipped this rising and gone straight to the assembly and baking. The only difference is that the dough has substantial snap at this stage and may be more difficult to roll out. My advice is if you have the time, let the dough rest at this point.)

Heat the oven 450 and place a baking stone in the oven. Assemble the fillings and sauce. Lightly oil a rolling pin and roll each dough ball into an approximately 9-inch circle. On one half of each dough, place about 1/4 cup of sauce. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup melting cheese such as mozzarella and then the filling ingredients. Fold the dough over and seal the edge, by turning and crimping. Brush the dough with additional olive oil and cut a small steam vent or two.

Place on hot pizza stone and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool for a couple minutes and serve with a small bowl of the room temp tomato sauce alongside. These will amaze and astound your family. Serve with a tossed salad with all the Italian restaurant goodies -- pickled beets, chickpeas, tomatoes, pepperoncini, and a homemade vinaigrette. Your world will be warm and hazy and there will be no leftovers.