Thursday, 3/31 - What's for Dinner?

[cjs]

Another month into the wind! What's on the menu for you all tonight?

Not sure, there are a couple ideas others have done this week that sounded good, so may peruse the weeks threads.

[Mare749]

Family coming over tonight so I'm making calzones and a green tossed salad. I found this recipe on italianfoodforever.com and it sounded good.

http://www.italianfoodforever.com/images...onecut.jpg

SAUSAGE AND EGGPLANT CALZONE

A tasty "stuffed" pizza that makes a very impressive appearance at the table. Calzones are made by placing the filling ingredients on one half of a pizza dough circle, and then folding over to cover the filling and pressing the edges to seal. In this calzone recipe I cook together eggplant, spicy sausage, onion and garlic until soft and then add some prepared tomato sauce.

Ricotta cheese, combined with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses were dotted on top of the sausage mixture to create a creamy layer which contrasts beautifully with the spicy sausage underneath. Because this filling is so substantial, I feel one calzone could easily feed two people.


Serves 2
by Deborah Mele


1 Ball Basic Pizza Dough - Defrosted

1 Cup Prepared Tomato Sauce

4 Tablespoons Finely Chopped Onion

1 Clove Garlic, Minced

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Salt And Pepper

Red Pepper Flakes

1 Cup Diced Eggplant, Skin Removed

2 Sausage Links, Removed From Casing

3 Teaspoons Fresh, Chopped Basil,

1/2 Cup Fresh Ricotta Cheese

1/2 Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

3 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese


Preheat your oven to it's highest temperature. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the garlic and onions until translucent. Add the eggplant and crumbled sausage and cook until both are golden. Add the tomato sauce, a pinch of pepper flakes, salt and pepper and chopped basil and cook on low for 20 minutes until very thick. Mix together your cheeses and set aside.

Prepare your pizza dough, and after the first rising by rolling it into a 12 inch circle and laying it across a pan prepared by lightly oiling or sprinkling with cornmeal. Spoon the sausage eggplant mixture on one half of the calzone, keeping a 1 inch border clean. Add the cheese mixture and spread over the eggplant. Fold the top half of the dough across, and pinch the edges to seal. Bake for about 10 minutes or until puffy and golden.

Tip: I would not cut the calzone until after you have presented it at the table in all it's glory.

[luvnit]

We are having roasted winter veggies ala Jamie Oliver:


Roast Vegetable Mega Mix
Ingredients
• For all of the vegetables
• Olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
•
• 18 ounces/ 500 g carrots, peeled
• Juice of 1 clementine, squeezed halves reserved
• Couple sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves picked
•
• 2 bulbs fennel, peeled and quartered
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
•
• 14 ounces/ 400 g parsnips, peeled
• A lug of white wine vinegar
• Couple sprigs fresh sage, leaves picked and torn
• A small teaspoon honey
•
• 12 1/2 ounces/ 350 g beets, larger ones cut into chunks
• A couple of good lugs of balsamic vinegar
• A few sprigs fresh oregano or marjoram (if you can get it)
•
• 12 1/2 ounces/ 350 g baby turnips
• A couple of good lugs red wine vinegar
• 5 fresh bay leaves
Directions
If any of your carrots, parsnips or turnips are particularly big, chop them in 1/2. You can parboil the carrots,
fennel, parsnips, and baby turnips together-everything except the beets, as they'll turn everything else red! The
beets also take quite a bit longer to cook, around 20 to 25 minutes.
Put the rest of the vegetables into a large pot, cover with cold water and season well. Bring to the boil and cook
for about 6 to 7 minutes until you've got part-cooked, softened bendy vegetables, and then drain in a colander
and leave to steam dry.
Page 1 of 3

Get yourself a small tray, and use it to mix up each set of vegetables with their own gorgeous flavours, a few
good lugs of oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Toss the carrots, clementines and rosemary together first
and move them to a larger roasting tray so they're all together.
Then mix your fennel with its flavours and do the same... When you get to the parsnips, keep the honey back for
later. Make sure each vegetable group is separate in the roasting tray. Cover the tray with tin foil and keep in the
refrigerator or the garage until your turkey is out of the oven and resting.
When you are ready to cook them, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F/ 190 degrees C/ Gas 5. Roast the
vegetables in the hot oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour until they are golden, crispy and beautiful looking. Five
minutes before they are ready to come out of the oven take the tray out, drizzle the honey over the parsnips and
jiggle the tray so they are nicely coated.
Pile all the vegetables up on a platter so they sprawl and hang all over the place. That platter is like winter in a
nutshell, and every single mouthful will taste different and exciting - you'll definitely want to keep it close to you at the table.

Also a porketta roast in the crockpot.

We have a busy day with conferences, shopping, and lunching with daddy today. I am going to try and FB a restaurant we go to today that just opened up. A Chinese food place. Yum!

[HomeCulinarian]

Those sound really good so far! I'm making chicken thighs paprikash in the crock pot. I'll go home for lunch to put it together. It's from one of the CAH books - probably the slow cooker book.

[cjs]

Oh crap - decisions, decisions!!!

[Mare749]

I just tasted the filling that is going into my calzones. All I can say is OMG!!!

[Trixxee]

This is very unusual - no plan at all. Could I be burnt out?

[cjs]

Funny, I'm feeling it too, Trioxxee - so tomorrow night we're going to Sabai Thai for some Rad Nah (a new addition the cook has just put on the menu).

copied, Maryann!!

[karyn]

I want Maryann's calzone!! However, I still don't have a kitchen at the house we're at tonight. We'll probably go somewhere close for a quick bite of warm food. There are only so many cold sandwiches I can enjoy...

[Trixxee]

I want the calzone too! Beautiful.

I settled on chicken parm and sauteed zucchini & yellow squash with fresh oregano.