Spinach and Black Olive Calzone Recipe

From Quinoa Cusine by Jessica Harlan and Kelley Sparwasser.....

My family loves calzone night; the kids can play with extra chunks of dough or even fill their own calzones with toppings of their choosing.  I love the spinach and black olive combination, but you can use whatever fillings you like.  Some of our other favorites are roasted red peppers, canned artichoke hearts, meat or veggie sausage, and wilted arugula.  If you have a favorite homemade pizza sauce recipe, feel free to use it; you’ll need about 4 cups.

Ingredients:
2 recipes of quinoa pizza dough
Cornmeal of semolina flour, for baking sheet
4 cups prepared pizza sauce
2 (10 oz.) packages frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove excess water
1 cup sliced black olives
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:

1. Prepare the pizza dough according to the recipe instructions, making a double batch.
2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit; if you have a pizza stone, put it into the oven before preheating.  If you don’t have a pizza stone, sprinkle a rimmed non-stick baking sheet lightly with cornmeal or semolina flour.  Heat the pizza sauce in a medium saucepan and keep warm over low heat.
3. Divide the dough into four equal pieces.  Work with one piece at a time, keeping other pieces covered with a towel or plastic wrap so they don’t dry out.  On a work surface lightly dusted with flour, use your hands to pat and stretch a piece of dough into a flat oval about 12 X 8 inches.  Arrange a quarter each of the spinach and black olives on half of the oval, leaving an edge of about 1 inch uncovered.  Sprinkle with about 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese and drizzle with about 1/4 cup pizza sauce.  Fold the dough over the filling and, beginning at one end, roll the edge to seal.  Tuck the rolled edge under the calzone.  Carefully transfer the finished calzone to the baking sheet or slide onto the hot pizza stone in the oven.
4. Repeat with the remaining dough and the filling.  Bake the calzones until the dough is golden and they sound hollow when tapped, about 15 minutes.  Serve hot with the remaining pizza sauce spooned over.

Makes 4 calzones.

Recipe courtesy of Quinoa Cuisine by Jessica Harlan and Kelley Sparwasser.


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