cheap family recipes
feed a family of 4 for less than £200 a month
Calzone
This calzone recipe can hold all sorts of bits and pieces from the fridge as well as the suggested contents.
The full recipe makes 4 large calzone
Calzone pizza is a real classic!
Ingredients
For the Tomato Sauce
- 3 tsps garlic powder
- 2 cans tomatoes chopped
- 30 g tomato puree
- 25 g olives very thinly sliced with your sharpest knife
- 1 leaf basil torn into little strips, per calzone, 4 leaves in total (optional)
- 3 desertspoons vegetable oil
- ground black pepper
Bechamel Sauce
- 280 ml tap water
- 100 g onions thinly sliced into rings
- 3 dessertspoons flour
- 3 dessertspoons vegetable oil
- 2 tsps mustard
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp yeast extract or marmite
Dough Batch
- 400 g flour white bread flour
- 7 g yeast
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- 250 ml very warm water
- oil to grease your tin
Instructions
Dough Batch Method
- Warm the flour in the oven on gas 1 in a large metal pan first.
- Activate the yeast according to instructions on packet. If you have reduced the amount of this recipe, use a minimum of 1 tsp of yeast. If your packet does not specify, activate by mixing the yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a small cup of hand-hot water, leaving it until it forms a foamy head as is shown in the picture.
- The water temperature should be between 105° F. and 115° F. Use an instant read thermometer if you have one, if not, test the water against the inside of your wrist by holding it under the tap it should feel very warm but not hot.
- Add salt to the warmed flour.
- Add the warm water (including the water in which you activated the yeast), gradually until you get a not too slippy dough.
- Mix by hand, or with a spoon. No need to knead.
Calzone
- Put the dough in a warm place for approx 45 minutes to 1 hr until fat and puffy.
- While this is happening, prepare your sauce: fry the tomatoes, puree and seasonings in the oil, reducing them down until it is a thick glossy sauce. You will need to crush the tomato chunks with the back of your wooden spoon to achieve a relatively smooth paste. If you prefer, you can make the sauce even smoother in your food processor.
- Quarter the dough and roll each one out on a floured surface. You want to get them roughly round, approximately 3 mm thick, they should be around 30cm diameter. You can now either keep these in the fridge, until you’re ready to cook them, or you can put your filling in and cook them straight away.
- Now make the bechamel sauce. Mix the flour, yeast extract and mustard and salt with the oil in a saucepan over a moderate heat to form a runny smooth paste, then gradually add the water, stirring quickly after each addition of water to prevent lumps. Taste, and adjust seasonings. It should have a very mildly savoury cheese saucy flavour even though it has no cheese.
- Stir in the onion rings and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring until the onions are soft. You are aiming for a thick sauce here, like a creamy mashed potato. A thinner sauce might puncture the calzone and ooze out. Smear 1 quarter of the tomato sauce over half of the dough, add 1 large leaf of basil torn into little strips (optional) and then add the oniony bechamel sauce.
Assemble your Calzone
- To make your calzone, carefully lift the far edge of the pizza dough and pull it over the top towards you, – you need to fold them in half. Moisten edges of calzone. Press the moistened edges so none of the sauce can spill out. Place the 4 calzone side by side on a floured baking tray, or two. Bake for approx. 8-10 mins in a brisk oven (gas mark 8/200°c/180°c fan), or until the dough just begins to brown.
- Just after crimping the edges, but before baking is the best time to freeze these.
Equipment Needed
Notes
Nutrition
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