I popped over to their website to find some great recipes and found several that Robyn and I wanted to try out - including Simple Guacamole and Sun Dried Tomato Greek Salad, but I had some yummy whole wheat pizza dough in my fridge waiting to be used, so I settled on making this:
Italian Calzones with Ricotta, Spinach, Olives and Sun Dried Tomatoes
Ingredients:
- 20 ounces pizza dough (makes 4/5 oz. calzones) - I used whole wheat pizza dough
- 1/4 cup Bella Sun Luci extra virgin olive oil
- 16 ounces ricotta
- 8 ounces parmesan cheese, grated or shredded
- 1-box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and strained - I had a bag of fresh, so substituted that
- 6 ounces chopped kalamata olives or black olives - Robyn doesn't like olives so I left these out
- 2- (3.5 oz. bags) Bella Sun Luci sun dried tomatoes julienne, chopped into smaller pieces
- In place of the olives, I had some Roasted Peppers in oil in my fridge, so I julienned those.
- Salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
- 1-2 Tbsp. flour for dusting
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 400ยบ. Mix all ingredients together except the dough and oil.
- Lightly dust a cutting board (or surface you will be preparing the dough on) with the flour.
- Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough into an oblong (football) shape. Place filling into the front half of each dough circle.
- Leaving about an inch of dough bare int he front. Fold the back half of the dough over the filling to overlap the front. Press down the edge to seal. Starting from one end of the calzone very tightly curl/twist the front inch of dough one small piece at a time until you go across the whole calzone.
- It should end up looking like a twisted/braided edge. (see photo) Make sure to pinch both ends/corners so they are sealed.
- Brush a cookie sheet with half of the oil. With a spatula place each calzone on the baking sheet, and then use the rest of the olive oil to brush the top of each calzone.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the calzone is browned on top and on the bottom (lift with spatula to check). Serve hot with our Bella Sun Luci Tomato Artichoke Pasta Sauce under each calzone or your favorite marinara.
I also got to try their amazing Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, Sun Dried Tomatoes in oil and their fabulous marinades and each of their products more than met my expectations - they were incredibly fresh and flavorful and really heightened our dining experiences! I have to say that my favorite (and most versatile) was the Tomato Pesto Sauce, which I added to so many dishes - Robyn's favorite way to use it was to add it to an alfredo sauce one night because she wanted something 'rose' instead - and it made a beautiful compliment!
On a side note, I learned that sun dried tomatoes are incredibly good for you! "They have 12 times more, ounce per ounce, the amount of Lycopene than a raw tomato!"
Research has shown that a diet rich in tomato products has long term health benefits. These benefits may include protection against such disease as prostate cancer, coronary heart disease and cataracts.
Mooney Farms has been but on a foundation of family values, quality and integrity and is the largest manufacture of sun dried tomato prodcts in the U.S. today!
Check out all of Mooney Farms products and then look for them in your favorite retailer,or even better - order direct from the source!
And now that I've shard my recipe this week, please add one of your own to the monthly linky:
