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    Home » Recipes » Main

    Published: Oct 24, 2014 · Modified: May 12, 2020 by Bita Cyrus · 8 Comments

    Cheddar and Beef Calzone

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    It’s been 23 months since my first homemade calzone.

     Ground Beef and Cheddar Calzones

    Is that odd? I don’t mean is it odd to keep track of food anniversaries like that. I mean, is it odd that I never had a homemade calzone before then? In fact, if my memory doesn’t fail me (like it has been since I started grad school) that was my second calzone. Ever! Now that’s gotta be odd.

    Keeping track of food anniversaries is important. Not odd.  

    Ground Beef and Cheddar Calzones

    Not odd!

    OK, let’s take traveling for instance---is it not true that when you visit a new place it’s 5% about the scenery, 5% about the people, and 90% about the FOOD? And when you return back home, don’t you reminisce about the food the most? Perhaps years later even? If the answer is no, sumpin’s up. For real.

    Ground Beef and Cheddar Calzones

    So then yeah, it’s completely normal that my food life thoughts have trumped my science/lab life thoughts. Well, it’s more complicated than that, but that’s beside the point today.

     Ground Beef and Cheddar Calzones

    My point is, I remember the calzone! And it stuck!

     Ground Beef and Cheddar Calzones

    Two years ago, when Barry and I were engaged, he took me to meet some of his relatives back east and his aunt made a calzone assembly line. Here’s the dough, fill it with whatever you like, close it up, pop it in the oven, and there you are---a hot golden crust filled with savory goodies of your choice and oozing with cheesy goodness.

     Ground Beef and Cheddar Calzones

    Since that trip, Barry and I have made a variation of those calzones 64 times.

    See? Food memory.

    Ground Beef and Cheddar Calzones

    I completely made that part up but honestly, we’ve eaten enough of ‘em so it could be true! Also, I have been known to accurately pinpoint years, ages, and current times to the minute, with no prior knowledge, and completely out of thin air. So that’s impressive. 

    Seriously. It happened 3 or 4 times at least. 

    Ground Beef and Cheddar Calzones

    3 times.

    To the calzone! It’s definitely not claiming to be an authentic Italian calzone. I mean, it’s got Thai hot chili peppers and extra sharp cheddar cheese in it.

    But it’s down-right authentically yummy. Add sautéed ground beef to that mix, sliced black olives, and tangy yet sweet tomato paste, and you’ve got a really flavorful dinner on your table in no time. Most definitely.

    We’ll make one large calzone, cut it up into thirds (or even halves if we’re both all hungry like that), and we’ll have one piece leftover for someone’s lunch the next day.

     Ground Beef and Cheddar Calzones

    Slight caveat---don’t reheat the calzone in the microwave because microwaves turn bread into rocks. Despite knowing this and because we don’t have a toaster oven at work, I still ended up zapping my calzone in the microwave there. And obviously I spent most of lunchtime knocking on my calzone.

    Oh but I still ate it.

     Ground Beef and Cheddar Calzones

    So if I ate it even after it turned to petrified crust, you know it had to have been one seriously tasty calzone. But for the record, from now on Barry will be the one taking calzone leftovers to work whenever we make them. They've got a toaster oven there. Fancy pants.

     

    Seriously though---knocking.
    Ground Beef and Cheddar Calzones

    Recipe

    Print

    Cheddar and Beef Calzone

    Course Main
    Prep Time 15 minutes minutes
    Cook Time 20 minutes minutes
    Total Time 35 minutes minutes
    Servings 3
    Calories 679kcal
    Author Honest and Tasty

    Ingredients

    • ⅔ lbs ground beef
    • ½ large onion or 1 small onion, grated with food processor or box grater
    • ½ teaspoon paprika
    • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
    • 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
    • 1 ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
    • ½ teaspoon pepper or to taste
    • 11 oz. thin crust pizza dough
    • 1 small can of tomato paste 6 oz.
    • 2 oz. sliced black olives or a handful
    • 7 thai chili peppers (optional) sliced
    • 1 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese shredded

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 400ºF (204ºC).
    • Combine beef with onion, paprika, garlic powder, turmeric powder, salt and pepper.
    • In a pan, cook beef mixture on high heat and break up the beef to small pieces. Mix around to sauté for about 8 min or cooked through. Liquid will have evaporated and at that point beef should sauté in its own fat for a couple minutes to give a nice sauté. Next, remove from heat and prepare rest of calzone.
    • Grease a large cookie sheet with some ghee or use parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet.
    • Place pizza dough onto sheet and top one whole half of dough with tomato paste. The other half will be folded over to close the calzone.
    • Add the beef on top of the tomato paste.
    • Add the olives.
    • Add the chili peppers.
    • Top with the cheese.
    • Fold other half of dough over to to meet the ends and use your fingers to bind the ends and fold over.
    • Make a few slices in the dough (or poke holes) to let air out while cooking.
    • Pop into the oven for 20 min. Cut and enjoy!

    Nutrition

    Calories: 679kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 36g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 111mg | Sodium: 2220mg | Potassium: 365mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 542IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 294mg | Iron: 5mg

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. The Unmanly Chef says

      October 24, 2014 at 3:25 pm

      5 stars
      This looks beautimus and delicious. Bravo.

      Reply
      • honestandtasty says

        October 26, 2014 at 2:46 pm

        Thanks so much, Sina! I appreciate that! 😀

        Reply
    2. tannaz says

      October 24, 2014 at 3:46 pm

      I respect your regular use of ground beef. It's something that's rarely in my house, but these posts make me feel like it should be.

      Reply
      • honestandtasty says

        October 26, 2014 at 2:53 pm

        Haha! You're so right! You just brought that fact to my attention so I had to go to my recipe index and check! Hilarious. Maybe I need to lay off the GB for a bit. But I admit, I love how versatile, easy, and delicious it can be. Good source of iron too!

        Reply
    3. Nina says

      October 24, 2014 at 4:23 pm

      Thoroughly enjoyed this entry. I might give this a shot tomorrow for dinner.

      Reply
      • honestandtasty says

        October 26, 2014 at 2:54 pm

        So glad you enjoyed it, sibs! XOXO

        Reply
    4. Sibster Numero Uno says

      October 29, 2014 at 3:11 pm

      Might have to try this one too!

      Reply
      • honestandtasty says

        October 30, 2014 at 11:18 am

        Soooo easy and fun to make 🙂
        And it's gorb, so that's a big plus, right?

        Reply

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