Calzone pizza with basil pesto, cherry tomatoes and provolone cheese recipe

calzone

A “calzone” is a particular kind of pizza that has been folded and has a nice “C” shape, like a croissant. It can be filled, like any pizza, with anything that you like. Today I decided to choose a kids’ friendly mediterranean summery option. Small calzoni with fresh pesto, cherry tomatoes, provolone cheese and sweet black olives filling. A nice, healthy and tasty filling for a crusty but still soft pizza dough.

The recipe is a good idea for a lunch box or just for a family lunch. Enjoy!

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This is what you will need for 8 kids’ size calzoni:

calzone ingred

Procedure:

– cut the pizza dough in 8 slices. For a super easy pizza dough recipe, click here “homemade pizza dough”

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– dust a flat surface with some semolina flour. with a rolling pin roll each dough slice to make it very flat, less than 1/4 inch and try to keep the triangular shape of the slice as much as possible.

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– spread one teaspoon of basil pesto in the center of the dough. Remember to keep a 1/2 inch border without filling. You can buy the pesto at the store or, even better, try this recipe “homemade basil pesto”

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– add 2 cherry tomatoes, sliced. Try one cherry tomato first: the sweeter, the better. If they are too acidic, you might want to substitute them with 1 teaspoon of tomato paste.

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– add 4 cubes of provolone cheese. I like provolone because it has a very light smoked flavor and melts perfectly without releasing too much liquid. You can also use fontina cheese or gouda.

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– add few black sweet olives. It’s important, the olives should be sweet (no Kalamata)

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– using some Extra Virgin oil of Olive, tap with your finger the border of the dough. The oil will act like a glue once you will roll the dough.

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– roll the dough starting from the larger part

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– with your hands make sure that the borders are “sealed”. You do not want any good filling to get out during the baking process. Always with your hands give the calzone a C shape, like a croissant.

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– place the calzoni on a parchment paper on a baking sheet and brush the surface with some Extra Virgin oil of olive

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– bake the calzoni in a preheated oven at 400 F. for 15 minutes, than broil them for an extra 2 minutes. You want to obtain a nice and golden crust.

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Let them cool down 5 minutes before enjoying them!!! ciao!!

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calzone quadrato

 

 

9 Comments

Did you make this recipe? Share the love, tag @buonapappa on Instagram and hashtag it #buonapappa I would love to see your creations!

  • Reply
    Thalia @ butter and brioche
    September 4, 2014 at 8:39 am

    I have never seen calzones as delicious and good looking as these! Definitely need to recreate the recipe.. loving the flavoursome filling and crescent shape.

  • Reply
    pizzarossa
    September 4, 2014 at 2:55 pm

    Wow! they look soooooo good! Definitely on the menu!

    • User Avatar
      Reply
      Barbara Lamperti
      September 4, 2014 at 10:07 pm

      😉 Thanks!! I’m glad you like the calzone recipe.

  • Reply
    Olivia
    September 4, 2014 at 9:16 pm

    Hi, I found this on FoodGawker and was hoping I could get your permission to post the recipe on my instagram recipe page (@foodie_recipes) as it looks delicious! I will tag you in the photo and put your website address on the post! Hope this is okay, thanks 🙂 x

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      Barbara Lamperti
      September 4, 2014 at 10:06 pm

      Hi Olivia,
      thank you for visiting BuonaPappa! of course, I would be glad to be included in your recipe page with the Calzone pizza. Feel free to surf my website and see if you like other recipes. Have a great day! barbara

  • Reply
    melinda
    January 5, 2015 at 6:11 am

    I found you on foodgawker and I must say that I love your recipes and step by step tutorials with videos and pictures. Just keep up the good work

    • User Avatar
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      Barbara Lamperti
      March 2, 2015 at 5:18 am

      Hi Melinda!
      Thank you so much, I really appreciate your comment!! b

  • Reply
    gelasio
    January 15, 2016 at 5:53 am

    hola, se ve delicioso, lo voy a hacer, tal vez hasta pueda vender. Gracias

  • Leave a Reply to melinda Cancel Reply