Chicken Pesto Calzones

I first saw this recipe for Chicken Pesto Calzones on My Kitchen Addiction early last month. I immediately knew I'd be giving this recipe a try. I'm a huge fan of pesto in any recipe and I loved that Jen claimed this was a freezer friendly recipe.

I finally got around to making the calzones last night and they certainly didn't disappoint! I baked two for dinner and placed the other two in my freezer for a quick, effortless meal when I've had a long day and don't feel like puttering around in the kitchen. Someday soon I want to spend the chunk of a Saturday afternoon making a variety of calzones to stock my freezer. Shaping the dough into 4 calzones creates very generous portions. You could easily shape these into 8 smaller calzones for kids or for modest meals on the go. You can fill the calzones with any of your favorite pizza toppings, but I must say that I was quite fond of this chicken pesto version!

Chicken Pesto Calzones
adapted from My Kitchen Addiction
makes 4 calzones

For the dough:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup olive oil

To finish the calzones:
1 cup pesto
3 cups cooked chicken, shredded
4 ounces shredded cheese (mozzarella or provolone)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
olive oil
Italian seasoning

To prepare the dough, combine the warm water, yeast and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk until the yeast and sugar are dissolved in the water. Add the olive oil, salt and flour. Using the dough hook, mix until dough is smooth and begins to pull away from sides of the bowl. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.*

Once the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 475°F. (If using a baking stone, place it in the oven while preheating.) Divide the dough into four portions and shape each portion of the dough into a rectangle/oval on a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil for easy transfer to the oven. If using a baking sheet, lightly grease and you may shape the calzones directly on the baking sheet.

In a mixing bowl, combine the pesto, shredded chicken, and cheeses. Spoon 1/4 of the chicken pesto mixture onto half of each piece of dough. Fold the dough over the filling and pinch the edges to seal the calzone.

(At this point, you can wrap with plastic wrap and freeze any or all of the calzones, if desired.**)

Brush the top of the calzones lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Bake for 12-14 minutes until golden on top and cooked through. Enjoy!

*For a faster rise, I microwaved a cup of water until boiling and allowed it to continue to boil for 2 minutes. I then placed my dough in the microwave. The warm, humid environment will allow the dough to rise considerably faster than it would in a typical kitchen.

**To bake the calzones from the freezer, allow them to thaw in the fridge or at room temperature then bake as directed.

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

The hubby and I had our first dinner guest Sunday evening. I prepared a simple, but delicious dinner of Fettuccine with Fresh Corn Pesto, homemade Focaccia Bread and Dulce de Leche Ice Cream. Our guest brought salad and ginger snaps (to serve with the ice cream) and it was a great start to what I hope to be many nights of entertaining in our new home.

Unfortunately I didn't snap any photos of the pasta or focaccia, but today I made sure to get a photo of the last bit of the ice cream. This recipe was incredibly easy to throw together and absolutely delicious. While I enjoy the richness and creaminess of custard style ice creams, I really love the ease of Philadelphia style recipes. This Dulce de Leche Ice Cream can come together with as few as three ingredients and just a few minutes of preparation. The caramel flavor of this recipe is absolutely outstanding. This is definitely a great recipe to throw together effortlessly to share with dinner guests. I highly recommend serving the ice cream with something spicy (such as ginger snaps) or a bit salty (maybe some roasted nuts or salted pretzels would be delightful) to provide a pleasant contrast to the sweet and smooth caramel notes.

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream
adapted from Gourmet
makes about 1 1/2 quarts

2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb dulce de leche
1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Bring milk and cream just to a boil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, then remove from heat and whisk in dulce de leche until dissolved. Whisk in vanilla and transfer to a metal bowl. Quick-chill by putting bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and stirring occasionally until cold, 15 to 20 minutes.*

Freezer mixture in ice cream maker until almost firm.

Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 1 hour.

Ice cream keeps up to 1 week in freezer.

*I chose to chill the ice cream base in a covered container in the fridge overnight.

Morning Kitchen Vignette

I had been using a loaner stove this past week as we waited for our range to arrive (there was a mix up initially and our builder's supplier brought the wrong range). This morning, bright and early, our door bell range and there was our shiny new range! We actually received a different refrigerator and dishwasher than we picked out/paid for, but they were upgrades from what we had chosen (our fridge is absolutely amazing, but that's a different post). The range we received today was also a free upgrade from the one I picked out. My new range has 5 burners and a convection oven with 6.0 glorious cubic feet of space and 4 oven racks, just waiting for me to bake a ton of delicious treats! I couldn't be more excited about my new kitchen!

I'm growing to absolutely adore the color scheme of my kitchen. When I was dreaming of my future home, my head was full of pictures of white cabinets, butcher block counters and sweet candy colors. Now that I'm in my neutral-colored space, I'm really starting to love it. I'm planning on working in lots of white ceramic accents (such as the egg crate and creamer in the vignette) and throwing in a few punches of complimenting color. I really like the way the coral pink of the macarons in the print pop with the copper cookie cutter. I think these pinks add just enough color while still complimenting the neutral palette. Eventually I'd like to do a huge wall of photos in my kitchen behind where our table will go. I'm thinking lots of baking-related photos, mostly in muted neutral tones and maybe a few hints of color thrown in for interest. I really look forward to growing into the space and breaking it in with dinner parties and gatherings. I really feel at home here.