Calzone pizza with basil pesto, cherry tomatoes and provolone cheese recipe

A “calzone” is a particular kind of pizza that has been folded and has a nice “C” shape, like a croissant. It can be filled, like any pizza, with anything that you like. Today I decided to choose a kids’ friendly mediterranean summery option. Small calzoni with fresh pesto, cherry tomatoes, provolone cheese and sweet black olives filling. A nice, healthy and tasty filling for a crusty but still soft pizza dough.

The recipe is a good idea for a lunch box or just for a family lunch. Enjoy!

This is what you will need for 8 kids’ size calzoni:

Procedure:

– cut the pizza dough in 8 slices. For a super easy pizza dough recipe, click here “homemade pizza dough”

 

– dust a flat surface with some semolina flour. with a rolling pin roll each dough slice to make it very flat, less than 1/4 inch and try to keep the triangular shape of the slice as much as possible.

 

– spread one teaspoon of basil pesto in the center of the dough. Remember to keep a 1/2 inch border without filling. You can buy the pesto at the store or, even better, try this recipe “homemade basil pesto”

 

– add 2 cherry tomatoes, sliced. Try one cherry tomato first: the sweeter, the better. If they are too acidic, you might want to substitute them with 1 teaspoon of tomato paste.

 

– add 4 cubes of provolone cheese. I like provolone because it has a very light smoked flavor and melts perfectly without releasing too much liquid. You can also use fontina cheese or gouda.

 

– add few black sweet olives. It’s important, the olives should be sweet (no Kalamata)

 

– using some Extra Virgin oil of Olive, tap with your finger the border of the dough. The oil will act like a glue once you will roll the dough.

 

– roll the dough starting from the larger part

 

– with your hands make sure that the borders are “sealed”. You do not want any good filling to get out during the baking process. Always with your hands give the calzone a C shape, like a croissant.

 

– place the calzoni on a parchment paper on a baking sheet and brush the surface with some Extra Virgin oil of olive

 

– bake the calzoni in a preheated oven at 400 F. for 15 minutes, than broil them for an extra 2 minutes. You want to obtain a nice and golden crust.

Let them cool down 5 minutes before enjoying them!!! ciao!!