Broccoli Rabe Calzone

I've been grooving on the calzone's lately.  They are so easy and so yummy.   Generally speaking I would make my own dough from my Grandma's tried and true, never fail recipe.  But since Marc's started carrying Corbo's pizza dough, and I can get a ball of dough for a buck, I can't resist it!  And when I pick up that buck ball of dough, my mind starts to wander and I think of all the goodies I can fill it with.  This time, as I continued my shopping I saw some gorgeous, extremely fresh broccoli rabe (or rapini if you prefer).  I knew that rabe was going to be the star of my calzone. 

 

Take the rabe and wash it, then chop it coursely, getting rid of the really thick stems.  Then blanch it in boiling water for a couple minutes.  Not too long, you just want to start the cooking process.  While you're doing that, in another pan brown about a half to a quarter of a pound of Italian sausage.  I've mentioned before that my preference is for Lou's which is a local Cleveland brand and delish.  But you can use whatever kind you want and in fact, when I'm feeling like I should be more health conscious, I use DiRusso's turkey sausage... also regional.  Anyway, you want to take it out of the casing and crumble and brown it.

On this particular occasion, I had leeks in the house so I decided to use them too.   Make sure you clean leeks well and then chop thinly and saute with the sausage, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go.  When both the sausage and the leeks are done (leeks should be soft and maybe just starting to brown a little, sausage will no longer be pink and starting to brown), add the blanched rabe to the pan and mix it all together.

If there is as much moisture in your pan as I have here, keep cooking it until all of it gone or carefully dump out the liquid.  You don't want all that in your calzone or it will be soggy.

Now take your ball o' dough and flatten it out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The dough may stick a  little but it's no biggie.  Once you have it flattened, put your rabe mixture over the dough.

Make sure you leave room all around the edges so that you will be able to close the dough and not have the filling leak out.  Then top with about a cup of shredded mozzarella or provolone.  I'm using provolone.

Carefully pull up one side of the dough and connect it to the other, then tuck in the ends.  With a sharp knife, cut a few vents in the top of the calzone to allow the steam to escape.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Check on it at 15 to make sure it's not browning too fast.  But it should be a nice golden brown color when you pull it out.  Depending on your oven, it could be less than 15 minutes, it could be more.

Just know you want it to look like this...

And then to look like this...

Dough done all the way through, cheese melty and delicious.   Mangia!