Chicken and Basil Calzones

Remember back in elementary school when the teacher said you couldn’t share with one person unless you had enough to share with the whole class? At work the rule is about to turn into “You can’t bring delicious food for lunch unless you have enough to share with the whole office.”  I typically eat lunch at my desk every day. I like to cram as much into eight hours as I can so I can get home and spend time with little one and husband. The result is that everyone knows what I bring for lunch, and it’s typically leftovers. When I pulled the calzone out of the microwave I instantly received compliments and the compliments didn’t stop until I was finished with lunch. Calzones are wonderfully portable and oh so yummy.

Calzones look tricky but in all honesty couldn’t be easier. I had pizza dough left in the fridge from making up a veggie pizza the night before. Yes, we technically had pizza two nights in row but I’m good with that choice. I don’t see any reason to buy premade dough when it’s so easy to make it yourself. The recipe I use for pizza dough can be found here.

Ground chicken isn’t always easy to find, so if I see it in the store I will pick up a pound to have on hand. I had an extra jar of pasta sauce so I used that instead of pizza sauce. My herb garden is starting to thrive (I have basil, thyme, sage, parsley and oregano right now) so I happily added garden fresh basil. Because I had a little extra feta in the fridge I threw that into the chicken mixture as well.

Cooking spray

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 pound ground chicken breast

3/4 cup prepared pizza sauce

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1 (13.8-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough

1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 425°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add garlic and chicken to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, stirring to crumble. Stir in pizza sauce and pepper. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in basil. Let stand 10 minutes.

Unroll dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; cut dough into quarters. Pat each portion into an 8 x 6–inch rectangle. Divide chicken mixture evenly among rectangles; top each serving with 2 tablespoons cheese. Working with one rectangle at a time, fold dough in half over filling, pinching edges to seal. Repeat procedure with remaining rectangles. Bake at 425° for 12 minutes or until golden.

Cooking Light, December 2008