Chicken and spinach calzone
1 hour
Here's an Italian version of a Cornish pasty, using pizza dough instead of pastry. The filling is ready-cooked roast chicken with spinach, red peppers and creamy ricotta cheese. Serve with a side salad.
Maggie Pannell
9 people made this
Ingredients
Serves: 4
- 1 pack pizza base mix, about 280g
- 350g frozen spinach, thawed in a sieve
- 200g ricotta cheese
- 50g Parmesan, freshly grated
- 2 red peppers in brine, drained and chopped
- 6 spring onions, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp shredded fresh basil leaves
- freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
- 200g skinless, boneless roast chicken, finely shredded
- 1 egg, beaten
Method
Prep:45min ›
Cook:15min ›
Ready in:1hr
- Make up the pizza dough according to the pack instructions. Knead the dough briefly on a lightly floured work surface until smooth, then put into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave to rise for about 15 minutes until doubled in size.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Use your hands to squeeze all excess water from the spinach. Put the spinach in a bowl and mix in the ricotta, Parmesan, peppers, spring onions and basil. Season to taste with nutmeg, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas 7.
- Knock back the risen dough and cut it into 4 equal pieces. Roll out each piece on a lightly floured surface to a 20cm round. Spread one quarter of the spinach mixture over half of each dough round, taking it to about 2.5cm from the edge. Pile the chicken on top.
- Brush the edge of each dough round with beaten egg, then fold over the untopped half to make a half-moon shape. Crimp the edges to seal tightly.
- Place on a lightly oiled large baking sheet. Brush with beaten egg and bake for about 15 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Serve hot.
variation
For vegetarian calzone, spread each dough round first with a quarter of the ricotta cheese, then with 2 tbsp tomato passata. Top with lightly fried, sliced button mushrooms and sliced, cooked and peeled red peppers. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and fresh thyme leaves. Fold, seal and bake as in the recipe.
