Ingredients:
- 5 oz. dough flat
- 3 oz. chicken
- 1 oz. bacon, prepared and sliced in 1” pieces
- 1 to 2 tbsp. Ranch dressing*
- Fresh baby spinach
- 1 1/2 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Granulated garlic
Directions:
Layer ingredients over half of the dough flat, leaving about an inch from the edge. For toppings, start with the chicken, then add the bacon pieces, drizzle with Ranch dressing and add a single layer of baby spinach leaves. Finally, top it off with grated mozzarella.
Fold the untopped dough over the ingredients and press the edges firmly to seal. Slit the top of the calzone with a sharp knife to create a vent for steam. Brush the calzone with oil, then sprinkle it with granulated garlic and salt. Place on a pan and bake in the oven at 450°F for 15 minutes or until the calzone turns a golden-brown. Serve with additional Ranch dressing.
*Optional: To add some spice to the calzone, mix some hot sauce with the Ranch dressing.
A Half-Moon of Heaven
It will come as a surprise to no one that calzones originated in Naples, along with just about everything else worth eating in this world. But it took a Californian to bring it to prominence in the U.S. Alice Waters, the owner and chef of the Chez Panisse in Berkeley, made a calzone that was so popular in the early 1980s, gustatory adventurers reportedly traveled hundreds of miles for a taste of it. In 1984, New York Times food critic Craig Claiborne hailed Waters’ signature calzone—filled with goat cheese, mozzarella, prosciutto, garlic and other herbs—as the “best I have ever tasted.” If Claiborne were alive today, a bite of this month’s Bacon Chicken Ranch Calzone just might change his mind. It’s a half-moon of heaven with a Ranch dressing drizzle—what more could you ask for?
