SPINACH CALZONES

SPINACH CALZONES image

Categories Cheese Vegetable Bake Vegetarian

Yield Makes approximately 30 servings

Number Of Ingredients 9

Ingredients

2 10-ounce packages frozen chopped spinach
6 ounces Saga or other soft (not crumbly) blue cheese
8 ounces mascarpone cheese*
2 16-ounce jars marinated artichoke hearts
frozen dinner roll dough (I use Rhoades parker house rolls)
Flour (as needed)
1 egg white
½ cup water
Parmesan cheese

Steps:

Thaw dough and spinach in refrigerator overnight. For filling: Squeeze all of the moisture you can from the spinach and set aside. Drain artichoke hearts and chop coarsely (don¹t worry about the size, they¹ll get chopped more thoroughly later. Combine cheeses and thoroughly beat together. Add spinach and artichoke hearts. Place this in the refrigerator. For the dough: Pinch off a piece between the size of a walnut and golf ball. A walnut-sized piece of dough will yield a calzone about three inches across which will be good for lunch or as an appetizer. A golf ball-sized piece will give you a 5-inch across calzone which is a serving for dinner with marinara dipping sauce and a salad. Press the dough into a disk. Dust it with flour and, working around the edges, stretch it a bit at a time. Do this between your two hands - nothing fancy, but don¹t press it down onto the dough board or counter top. The dough should feel slightly elastic and pull back. This is fine. When you have beaten the dough into submission and it looks like a slightly deformed jellyfish, place it onto the parchment paper and let it rest, covered. Pull some more dough and start again. You will need ~30 small or ~15 large dough circles plus one or two extra. When the dough circles are complete, take the first circle out and dust it lightly with a bit of flour. To fill: Use between 1/8 - 1/4 cup of filling to spread spinach mixture on one-half of a dough circle. Leaving a ½-inch crust on the outside. Dip fingers in water and run them around the outside of the dough circle. Fold in half and crimp with a fork. Combine egg white with ~1/2 cup water. Brush top of calzones and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Prick each calzone 3-4 times with a fork. Bake in 350-degree oven for ~35 minutes or until brown. This is really good served with a good marinara. * Cream cheese can be substituted for the mascarpone, but the result will be a more tangy filling.