Swiss Chard and Ricotta Calzones

I am thoroughly enjoying exploring food blogs. One I have been regularly visiting, as of late, is this one. She has an index of recipes that are right up my ally. This is the first recipe of hers that I've tried.

I have made calzones before and they've been good. This one incorporates swiss chard, which I have a-plenty. These are very good. I served them to my brother and his fiance and they were a hit- lots of moaning and mmmmm-ing. We had them again the following night. Later this week, vegetarian friends will be coming for dinner and guess what I plan to make again?

Jamey is very pleased that I doubled the recipe. This means he'll be taking them to school in his lunches. Although, he says he feels a little bad eating good, homemade leftovers in front of his younger classmates who are eating hot pockets, power bars and pecans for lunch. These are pharmacy students who know about good eating habits and health. But, to their defense, they don't have a stay-at-home wife cooking them meals that lead to leftovers which lead to lunches either.

Ok, enough gabbing. Here's the recipe...

Swiss Chard and Ricotta Calzones (adapted slightly from Sara Beam's recipe which was adapted from Vegetarian Planet)

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
2 large cloves garlic minced
2 cups chopped vegetables (I used green peppers and roasted tomatoes- be creative!)
1 bunch swiss chard, leaves chopped, stems diced (I used about 4 huge leaves, minus the lower stems. You could also use spinach.)
3/4 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
fresh-ground black pepper
crushed red pepper flakes (I skipped this for my kids' sake)
1 batch pizza dough (homemade or store bought refrigerated)
2 tbsp. cornmeal
tomato sauce for dipping

swiss chard

Cook the onions in the oil in a skillet over medium high heat for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and other vegetables and continue cooking until the vegetables are softening. Add the chard and cook until it is wilted but still green (before it turns to brown mush). Drain off any liquid and transfer to a bowl.

Add ricotta cheese to vegetable mixture and season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

Divide dough into 2 or 4 equal portions (2, if this is your main dish or 4, if this is a side dish). Roll out onto a floured counter into oval shapes. Divide vegetables between the dough, keeping it off to one side. My oval looks more like a circle. This seemed to work fine, too.



Fold empty side over the filling and crimp the edges of each calzone with a fork to prevent leakage while baking. Lay calzones on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until nicely browned.


Serve with warm tomato sauce for dipping. Mmmmmmmm. We've discovered that these baked calzones freeze, thaw and reheat very nicely. Pin It