Honey Cannoli! A Dessert Calzone!

New York Times food writer, Melissa Clark's "A Good Appetite" column never lets me down.  Last week, she  offered several recipes for calzones using Mark Bittman's pizza dough recipe, one of which included this Honey Cannoli Dessert Calzone I made tonight.  It's made with fresh ricotta, which Clark demonstrates in a video on the NY Times website.  Sound complicated?  Not at all! Fresh ricotta can be ready in less than 30 minutes depending on how long it takes the milk to boil.  If that sounds like a lot of work, consider (as Clark points out in her video) that fresh ricotta is cheaper than store bought, tastes so much better and is fun to make!

I start by offering the Honey Cannoli Dessert Calzone recipe with photos.  Read on for recipes for pizza dough, fresh ricotta and a delightful spinach/red pepper calzone that Robert and I made last night with some of this dough.

HONEY CANNOLI DESSERT CALZONE
Preheat oven to 500 degrees (yes! 500!)
Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly grease

Take 1/4 of Mark Bittman's pizza dough recipe (see below--make the whole recipe, divide into 4ths and use one ball; freeze the rest if you're not making any other dishes)  Pull/roll the dough into a 6 to 7 inch circle.


In a bowl, combine:
3/4ths cup fresh ricotta (see below for recipe)
3-4 tablespoons honey (we used summer honey)
1-2 teaspoons grated orange rind
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.





Spread the ricotta mixture on one half of the dough. Lightly wet the edge and fold the dough in half, covering the ricotta mixture.

Crimp the edges, sealing well.  Brush lightly with olive oil.  Bake for about 15 minutes until the calzone is well-browned and puffed.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and drizzle with more honey. Split and serve.  One calzone generously serves two for dessert.

Mark Bitmann's Pizza Dough Recipe
3 cups all-purpose flour (or bread flour)
1 teaspoon fast-rising yeast (2 teaspoons if you want to speed things up)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
Put the flour, yeast, salt and oil in a food processor and pulse to mix well.  With the processor running, slowly add 1 cup of water through the feed tube, and process until the mixture forms a ball, which should be sticky.  Using flour or oiled hands, form the dough into a ball and let rest at room temperature 1 to 2 hours (or, do as I did, which was wrap the dough well and refrigerate overnight; return the dough to room temperature before proceeding with recipe).  For the honey cannoli recipe,  divide the dough into four equal pieces and use one for the honey calzone. (You could wrap and freeze the others for later, or double the recipe if you want more servings.)

FRESH RICOTTA 
2 quarts whole milk (1/2 gallon)
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

In a large pot, stir the milk, cream and salt together and bring to a rolling boil over medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent the milk from scorching.  Meanwhile, prepare a sieve or colander by lining it with four layers of cheese cloth, leaving a big overhang. Place the colander over a large pot.

When the milk/cream mixture comes to a rolling boil, stir in the lemon juice, reduce the heat and simmer just until curds start to form.  If you want firmer ricotta with big curds, cook for about a minute more.  Pour the mixture into the cheese-cloth lined colander and let drain until it's the consistency you like.  The longer it drains, the drier the curds will be.  That's it!  Place the ricotta in a container and refrigerate--it should keep for at least a week.  (For a simple and divine dessert, try this drizzled with some honey and cinnamon.)

BONUS RECIPE!  SPINACH, RED PEPPER CALZONE
Preheat oven to 500 degrees (yes! 500!)  Line a cookie sheet with foil and lightly grease.
1-2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for brushing calzone
3 or 4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 sweet red pepper, diced in 1/4 inch dice
1/2 pound fresh spinach, cleaned well
1/2 of Bittman's pizza dough recipe (see above)
1 cup fresh ricotta
3 ounces mozzarella, sliced in 1/4 inch slices
tomato or pizza sauce for serving on the side

Heat oil in a skillet add garlic, sprinkle with a little salt and lightly saute, being careful not to burn.  Add diced red pepper and saute for a few minutes.  Add spinach and cook until it's wilted.

Pull and roll the pizza dough until it is about 12 inches in diameter. Spread one half of the dough with ricotta, leaving about 1/2 inch margin to seal the dough.  Top with the spinach/pepper mixture (draining if it's very watery) and then with the mozzarella slices.  Fold the dough over, wet the edges and crimp and seal well. Transfer the calzone to the prepared cookie sheet and place in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes.  The calzone should be very brown--even a little darker on top.  Remove from oven and cool for about 5 or 10 minutes before slicing into it.  Makes two very generous servings for a main course.

Blueberry Honey Scones

These scones would make a lovely weekend breakfast. They are not very sweet, so you could serve them with some more honey and butter. They are especially good fresh from the oven, but managed to choke one down while I was at work the next day

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

INGREDIENTS: 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (divided)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, diced and frozen

1 cup blueberries (frozen is fine)

1/4 cup honey

3/4 cup half-and-half

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add the frozen butter and cut into the flour mixture until it is about the size of peas.  Add the other 1/2 cupt of the flour to the berries in a separate bowl and mix.  Set the blueberries aside.  Put the half-and-half in a liquid measuring cup.  Add the honey, egg and vanilla and mix well.  Add this to the flour and butter and gingerly combine, stirring just until the entire mixture is wet.  Fold in the blueberries and flour that you set aside and gently knead a few times in the bowl until it all comes together.  (This is basically a biscuit, so the more you work it, the tougher it'll be.)

 

When all is incorporated, turn out onto a floured surface and pat into about a 9 inch circle.  Cut into 8 wedges.  Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper).  If you'd like, you can lightly wet the tops with some half-and-half and sprinkle with sugar or brown sugar.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until the bottoms are nicely browned.

Broccoli Salad

It's been quite awhile since I've posted to this blog.  The mid-semester demands of teaching have kept me away from the kitchen--and the bees.  Here's a great broccoli salad that makes a wonderful side dish or nice lunch to pack.  It's slightly sweet from the honey and dried fruit and can be adapted with anything you have on hand.  Swap out the dried currants for some black olives and add some crumbled feta cheese, for example.  Hope you enjoy!

BROCCOLI SALAD
1 bunch of broccoli cut into large spears
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1/4 cup dried currants (or raisins, or craisins or other dried fruit)
2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1-2 tablespoons honey (I used our summer honey for this)
salt and pepper to taste.

Bring a large pot of water to boil and add about a teaspoon of salt.  Prepare a bowl of ice water.  Put the broccoli spears in the boiling water and blanch until the spears turn bright green.  Drain and immediately plunge into the ice water.  Drain the spears, drying well, and chop into about a 1/2 inch dice and put in a bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and toss to combine well.  Taste and check seasonings.  Serve cold.  Makes about four servings.

Ethiopian Honey Bread

The recipe for this delicious loaf comes from Marcus Samuelsson's The Soul of a New Cuisine:  A Discovery of Foods and Flavors of Africa--a gorgeously illustrated and James Beard Foundation award winning cookbook.  It offers a a number of bread recipes using honey, including pita bread and a toasted peanut bread recipe I hope to try soon.

This Ethiopian honey bread is lightly sweetened and delicately perfumed with rosemary that is toasted before adding to the dough.  The combination of honey and rosemary are delightful and neither overpowers the loaf.  This would make a good sandwich bread, as well as a nice bread for breakfast.

The recipe in Samuelsson's book produces two loaves and uses loaf pans.  I cut the recipe in half and skipped the loaf pan in favor of boule.  Epicurious.com offers Samuelsson's full recipe from a 2009 piece in Gourmet.

ETHIOPIAN HONEY BREAD
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
1/8th cup canola oil
1 1/4 cup water
3/8ths cup honey (you can eyeball this!)
3 1/2 cups  all-purpose flour
1 package quick rise yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt.

Toast the rosemary in a small skillet over high heat until it's fragrant--about 30 seconds.  In a small sauce pan, combine oil, water and honey. Heat over medium flame, stirring until honey dissolves.  Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, whisk together three cups flour, yeast, salt and toasted rosemary.  Pour warm water/honey mixture over and mix well, adding additional flour if needed to form ball.  Knead the dough until it is somewhat smooth--about 5 or 6 minutes.  Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and let rise until doubled in bulk--about an hour.

Gently fold dough in on itself, about 3 or 4 times and shape into a round loaf.  Let rise again until doubled in bulk--about 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, heat oven to 400 degree, with rack in middle position. Add a baking stone to oven if you'd like.

Make some decorative slashes in the top of the loaf and place on parchment paper on the baking stone (or on a cookie sheet).  Bake for about 30 minutes--but check this, as the loaf may not be done in the center.  If it feels heavy and doesn't have a hollow sound when the bottom is tapped, give it another 10 minutes or so.  If needed, tent with aluminum foil to prevent overbrowning.  Let cool on a cooling rack before slicing.

Chocolate Honey Snacking Cake

I can't let the advent of Valentine's Day go by without some kind of chocolate honey concoction!  This is not a strongly flavored chocolate cake, so the taste of the honey in the batter really comes through.  I used our summer (clover) honey in this recipe.  More richly flavored fall honey would also be a good choice. We plowed right into the cake after it came out of the oven, but if you want a more strongly chocolate flavored cake--and a prettier presentation to impress your valentine--you can add a chocolate honey glaze once you take the cake from the pan. I'm including a glaze recipe below.

FOR THE CAKE:
1 10-inch spring form tube pan at least three inches deep; you could also use a 9-inch regular round cake pan if you'd like.Oil and flour the pan.  If you're using a regular cake pan, it'd be wise to line the bottom with parchment paper.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt.
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup summer or fall honey
2 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 1/2 cup milk soured by adding 1 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice. (You could also use butter milk.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.  Using a standing or hand-held mixer, blend the sugar and honey for about 2 minutes, beating really well.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix for another minute to blend well.  Add oil and mix again for about 30 seconds to a minute until the ingredients are fully combined.  Add one half of the flour mixture and mix until there are no pockets of flour left (there may be some lumps).  Add the milk and mix carefully, as the batter will be very soupy at this point.  Add the rest of the flour and combine well.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake about 50 to 55 minutes.  The top should be highly domed and spring back when lightly touched with your finger.  Alternatively, insert a toothpick in the center and remove.  If it's dry, the cake is done.  Take care not to over-bake.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.  If serving plain, serve warm!  You can glaze the cake when it's still warm if you'd like.

HONEY CHOCOLATE GLAZE
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup summer or fall honey
10 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate,(NOT baking chocolate), chopped or broken into small pieces
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
toasted pecans, almonds or walnuts--about 1/2 cup (optional)

Bring whipping cream and honey just to a boil in a sauce pan, stirring to blend and watching carefully so that it doesn't boil over.  Place the chocolate in a bowl and pour the hot cream and honey over it, stirring to melt the chocolate until all is smooth.  Add the vanilla and a pinch of salt and let sit for about 5 minutes.

Place a cooling rack on some waxed paper on the counter and put the cake on the rack.  Pour the glaze evenly over the cake, spreading if necessary so that the glaze drips down the sides.  Sprinkle the toasted nuts on top if using.  Place the cake in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour to set the glaze.

This cake keeps well, so you could bake it a day ahead if you'd like.  Just tightly cover it overnight.

Couscous Citrus Salad

Oranges get me through the winter.  I made this salad with Israeli couscous, but you could use regular couscous or another kind of grain--brown rice, farro, quinoa.  This made a great mid-week lunch.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups broth (or water)
1 cup Israeli couscous (but see above)
salt to taste (especially if you're using water)
2 oranges, cut into sections. (Then cut each section in thirds.)
1 stalk of celery, sliced
1/2 cup dried cranberries (or raisins, or currants)
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
salt and pepper to taste

Boil the broth or salted water and add couscous.  Lower heat and simmer about 10 minutes.  Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking.  Drain well again.  Place the drained couscous in a large bowl and section the oranges over the bowl to catch all of the juices.  Put the cut oranges in the bowl along with the sliced celery, dried cranberries, olive oil and ginger.  Mix well.  Refrigerate for at least two hours (or over night).  Toss again and check seasoning before serving.  Makes four servings

Halibut Cheeks Stir Fry

Robert's brother, Dan, who lives in Alaska, sent us the most amazing fish--fillets of salmon, halibut, and these halibut fish cheeks that we used in a stir fry.  We're lucky to have a sustainable source of fish.  Julie Auth of Wild Alaskan Salmon Company sells sustainable fish at the Sewickley Farmers' Market  during the summer and also does local deliveries. If wild Alaskan halibut isn't available, you could substitute farmed catfish or U.S. farmed talapia.  In that case, I'd just place the fish on top of vegetables rather than mixing it in the stir fry because the fish will be very flaky.  For more information on sustainable fish, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium website, which includes down-loadable pocket guides for the best sustainable fish to choose.

INGREDIENTS:
peanut (or other oil) for frying
1/2 to 1 pound white fish (see above), cut in 1/2 inch cubes.
1/2 cup flour
salt and pepper
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, sliced in rings
1 bunch broccoli, cut into flowerettes (about 3 cups)
2 medium carrots, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
1 red pepper, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 cup vegetable or fish broth
1 tablespoon corn starch
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 to 1 teaspoon sesame oil
Cooked rice for serving

Heat a large skillet or wok. Add oil so that it generously coats the bottom of the pan.  Heat until the oil sizzles when you place a drop of water in it.  Dredge fish in flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper.  Shake off excess flour and add to hot oil. Add as much fish as you can without crowding (you may need to do this in batches).  Fry the fish until it's golden and easily releases from the pan.  Turn and fry the pieces on both sides.  Place the fish on a plate lined with paper towels and drain all but about two tablespoons of the oil.
Add the garlic and onions and stir fry for about a minute.  Add the vegetables and stir fry until the color brightens, about five minutes.  Meanwhile, combine the broth, corn starch, hoisin sauce, honey and sesame oil.  Pour onto the vegetables and cook until the sauce thickens. Turn off heat, add the fish, and cover with a lid and let sit for about five minutes (or more--depending on how soft you want the vegetables).  Serve with rice and some hot sauce if you want a spicier dish.  Makes four generous servings.