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Think of the Italian calzone, which originated in Naples, as a portable pizza.

They’re made with pizza dough, and typically filled with ricotta and pizza toppings such as mozzarella, cured meat and vegetables, though we made ours with local ingredients like boudin and Louisiana crawfish). The word calzone means “trouser” or “pant leg” in Italian, and it’s created by folding the dough into a half- moon shape and sealing the ingredients inside by crimping the edges.

Calzones are baked. A smaller, fried version is called a panzerotti . Similar to a calzone, a stromboli is a rolled- up pizza (or turnover) with meat and cheese that is then baked. While the calzone is stuffed with sauce, the stromboli is rolled up without any sauce inside to prevent it from becoming soggy. The sauce is served on the side.

Crawfish Calzone Makes 1 large calzone

WHAT YOU WILL NEED: 2 tablespoons canola oil

1 medium white onion, diced ½ green bell pepper, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 pound Louisiana crawfish tails, rinsed 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 pint half-and-half 3 tablespoons Creole seasoning 1 cup mozzarella and provolone cheese, shredded ½ cup parmesan cheese, grated 3 tablespoons green onions, chopped Pizza dough (recipe on page 29) HOW TO PREP: Heat the oven to 500°F. Heat the canola oil in a pan over medium-high heat, and sauté the onion and bell pepper in it until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and crawfish

tails, and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Add the flour to the pan and cook for 2

minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan with your spoon to remove any flour that might have stuck to the pan. Add the half-and-half and Creole seasoning; reduce the heat to medium and stir. Chill the mixture, then add the cheese and green onions. Set aside until you are ready to fill the calzone. Lightly flour your work surface, and stretch the dough to a 12-inch circle. Spoon the chilled crawfish mixture onto one side of the dough, leaving a ½-inch border all around edge. Brush the edge of the dough with water and fold the dough in half. Pinch the edges to seal the dough.

(Use a pizza cutter to trim the very edge of the dough to get a perfect seal.) Transfer the calzone to a baking sheet, and brush it with olive oil. Bake until the crust is golden brown and firm, around 15 to 20 minutes. Let it rest for about 5 minutes before serving.

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