An old standby

I have undoubtedly featured calzones before on my other blog, but an old friend deserves a repeat.  I first came across calzones when I worked at Zio's Pizzeria in Omaha, circa 1988.*  They had wonderful pizza, but I really fell for the calzones.  And since working at Zio's, I've been a proponent of ricotta in calzones.  It ain't a calzone without ricotta, which I know garners strong opinions on both sides from calzone enthusiasts.

Veganizing calzones became much more possible with the advent of Daiya.  The ricotta component proved a bit more challenging.  While I'll admit it's not the same, tofu ricotta does provide somewhat of the same texture as ricotta.

I use Giada's pizza dough recipe and have for years.  I'm lazy when it comes to dough, and this recipe provides good results.  It makes a nice, crunchy crust and is easy to work with.

Then, just stuff them to your heart's content.  Typical fillings for me include mushrooms, black olives, onion, bell pepper and broccoli.  Gotta have the broccoli, another Zio's holdover.  Cheese and marinara, of course.

Ready to go into the oven:

20 minutes at 450 degrees and they look like this:

Cut 'em open and top with more marinara and cheese and bake another 10 minutes:

Try to hold off a few minutes or you'll burn your mouth!

 

*I learned to toss dough at Zio's, and we had to wear chef's hats.  Mortifying, but as far as I know, there is no photo documentation of me in said chef's hat.  Digital photos are great, but I am thankful that certain instances in my life lack photographic documentation.