Mushroom, Tomato & Olive Calzone with Tofu Ricotta

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] My friend Amy was the inspiration behind this recipe, she was visiting us last week and mentioned making calzones as her cooking specialty and I have been dreaming out them ever since. As a rule I absolutely love *anything* that is made by wrapping food in pastry: dumplings, pies, samosas, spring rolls, you name it and I love it. Calzones are no exception and they are so versatile, anything that goes well on a pizza will go well inside these babies! I used some ground up chia seeds in the dough mixture, but they are an optional ingredient, they were added for their nutritional content and not because they were required for the consistency of the dough. The tofu ricotta recipe came from the PPK website.

Mushroom, Tomato & Olive Calzone with Tofu Ricotta

Ingredients:
For the dough:
1 tbs dry active yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs ground chia seeds (optional)
Pinch of salt

For the Tofu Ricotta:
1 pckg firm tofu – pressed
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
handful fresh basil leaves, chopped
Pinch of black pepper

For the calzone filling:
1 cup button mushrooms, chopped
Fresh basil leaves, chopped
5 cherry tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup olives chopped
2 tbs tomato paste

Method:

1. Prepare the tofu ricotta according to THIS recipe from Isa Chandra and refrigerate until ready to use.

2. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast on the warm water, and stir to dissolve. Set aside until the yeast starts forming bubbles in about 5 minutes. Sift in the flour, add the oil and salt and mix together with a wooden spoon until ingredients are combined and then mix with your hands to form your dough. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes and then cover and set aside (preferably somewhere warm) for 1.5 – 2 hours, until the dough has doubled in size.

3. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

4. On a floured surface divide the dough into 8 equal parts (or four if you are making large calzones). Roll each segment into a circle and place your calzone filling ingredients on one half of the dough, the ratios are up to you, just make sure there is enough filling so that when you fold the dough over a nice pocket of filling is formed. I put the tomato paste first, then top with basil, mushrooms, tomato, olives and finally top with some of the ricotta filling.

4. fold the dough over to form a pocket, press the edges together with your thumb. Place your calzones on a greased oven proof tray and bake for approximately 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

NOTE: I left the ingredients quite large for some of these photos, so that you could see, but the smaller you chop them, the better the flavour distribution will be inside your calzone. Recipe above will make 4 large calzones or 8 small ones.

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Vegan Pizza

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]One of the foods that I always thought I would miss when I became a vegan was pizza, in my head there just wasn’t a way to have pizza without cheese, but it turns out that vegan pizza is not only delicious, but super fast and easy too.

You can make your own dough if you want to, but I was a bit of a cheat and bought some ready made bases from the supermarket. The toppings are totally up to you of course but here is what I have on mine:

Tomato paste/Pizza Sauce
Green olives
Mushrooms
Roasted Cashew Nuts (salty is best!)
Capsicum
Jalapenos
Artichokes
Tomato
Fresh Basil

Put the whole thing in the oven for 10 minutes and you’re done! So yum!
You can also use pita bread as a base if you like your pizza base thin and crispy.

What are your favourite vegan pizza toppings?

Vegetarian Calzoni

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]This recipe could easily be converted to a vegan one, the pizza dough is vegan so it all comes down to what you put inside these delicious little deep fried pockets. We decided to follow the recipe on this one and added the buffalo mozzarella. It’s the first time we have cooked a non vegan dish in a long time actually! Anyway, here goes!

Calzoni
(The Vegeterranean)

DOUGH:
375g Italian ‘oo’ flour
1 teaspoon salt
218ml warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil (extra virgin)
19g fresh yeast
1 pinch sugar

FILLING:
(your only limitation is your imagination!)
180g cherry tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano
24 basil leaves – 12 chopped & 12 whole
1 garlic clove chopped
salt and pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil
110g fresh mozzarella, drained

Vegetable oil for frying

The recipe called for cherry tomatoes, which we didn’t have, so instead we made up a tomato sauce using tinned tomatoes, fresh oregano and garlic all blended together and then strained so that it wasn’t too watery. We added some mushrooms and chopped olives to the mix as well. We also added some ground flaxseed to the dough mixture for extra fibre, iron and protein (flaxseed is our wonder food! We use it in everything!). I have left the method as it was in the book, for reference, but you can see pretty clearly from the pics where ours differed. This is the kind of recipe where you really can mess around and add what you want.

Method:
To make your dough, combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Create a well in the centre and add the water and olive oil.. Add the yeast and sugar into the well and mix using your fingertips. work around the well the incorporate the flour until the dough comes together. Knead well until soft and elastic. Gently spread a few drop of oil around the surface of the dough, cover with a cloth and rest for 35 minutes in a warm, dry place. After the dough has rested, sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour and ‘turn’ it by pulling small portions of the dough around the edge towards the oppoistie side of the bowl. Once one full turn has been made, cover again and rest for 35 more minutes.

For the filling – while the dough is resting – deseed and roughly chop the tomatoes. Set over a colander for 30 minutes to drain. Combine with the oreganoc, chopped basil, garlic, salt, pepper and two drops of olive oil in a bowl. Cut the mozzarella into cubes around the same size as the chopped tomatoes, dry slightly and add to the filling mix.

Assembly: on a clean work surface dusted with flour, roll the dough out into a disc shape 3mm thick. With the use of a 8cm round cutter, cut out 24 rounds from the soft dough. Take each disc and place a full teaspoon of filling in the centre. Place half a whole basil leaf over the filling. Fold over half of the disc and seal using the teeth of a fork, gently pressing down so that it firmly seals the dough but does not break it. Place the calzoni on a tray lined with parchment paper and dusted with flour.

In a large pot, heat enough vegetable oil to cover the calzoni. When the oil is ready, gently place the calzoni in the pot. Allow one side to brown for about 1 minute before flipping it over to cook the other side. When the calzoni are golden brown in colour, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a tray lined with paper towels. Season with salt and serve immediately.

We did half our batch in the oven and half we deep fried like the recipe suggested. The oven ones worked out well, and would probably be preferable for the health conscious but I do have to admit that the deep fried ones were much tastier! We have also cooked a few of these and then placed then in the freezer for fast lunches or lazy dinners over the next couple of weeks.