...Yup, the Italian version of a "Hot Pocket" but without all the chemical additives in it :B

Ingredients:

Premade pizza dough
2 - 3 tablespoons pesto sauce
1 chopped Vidalia onion
1/2 bucket of baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 big piece of linquica sliced into coins (you can use any kind of meat, or leave it out if vegetarian)
2 cups ricotta
1/2 to 3/4 cups Italian shredded cheese
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (save some extra for coating the top, or you can use an egg wash instead)

shake of sesame seeds (optional, some Italian restaurants do this traditionally)
1 - 2 tablespoons flour (for dusting your surface)

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What I did first was sauté the onions, peppers, mushrooms and linguica first, so that way the water cooked out, and set aside in a large bowl.

Then I cut the pizza dough in half, rolled it out on the flour with a rolling pin on a flat surface (you have to put the effort into flattening the dough, its very, very stretchy and will bunch right back on you!)

Coated it with the pesto...then put on the ricotta (mixed with the oil, cheese, herbs + etc in a separate bowl) and then layered that with the stuffing.

Then fold it over and pinch the edges (Be VERY gentle in folding, you don't want to rip it apart)- and the most important part - you MUST have your calzone able to 'breathe'; that is, cut slits on the top, so that on the inside it cooks evenly.

Coat the top with olive oil (or use egg wash) and a sprinkle of sesame seeds, and let cook on a pizza stone in your oven at 450 F for 20 to 25 minutes (I did mine for a bit longer...but still came out tasty)

You can use your favorite pasta sauce from the jar (or make your own) to dip into!


Enjoy!