Pockets of Gas
I find it so difficult to not be obviously grouchy these days. It's just that, well, sometimes, it feels quite a bit like I'm surrounded by endless pockets of warm and dry tinder nests just waiting to light afire, and my flint and steel mouth willingly obliges in the incendiary havoc. Moreover, while it can be upsetting to realize that you've caused the "walking on eggshells" atmosphere in a room of people, whether intentionally or not, there's also just so much tinder that the situation often times seems doomed to happen. After all, one might say that inevitable material has been piling up more and more here, in one dust bunny form or another, and for quite awhile now. I'm enveloped in a network of gas pockets all filled with volatile substances of different reaction rates, and some days, it feels like I'm hitting just enough turbulent pockets to spin me into despair.
Superbowl Sunday was one of those days, in which several little explosions gradually accumulated into an evening of incurable grouchiness. Even though I came home to a warm house with dinner already on the table, from a grueling day of shouting and standing and keeping people in line, it just wasn't enough to overcome the hormonal terror that had taken grasp of my mind. Of course, as I am usually wont to do, instead of properly addressing the issues, of letting a reaction hit equilibrium before I moved onto the next gas pocket, I plowed on through the entire thing and stewed, adding more and more to the theoretical pot, until I was wading in both a figurative and literal dutch oven.
Sometimes in moments like these, when all seems a disgusting mess, beautiful little things happen that really shock you out of it all, bringing me to the crux of this post. I'm not going to list the litany of trivial annoyances that pushed me into being a grouch, but there was a moment in the night when something random and hilarious happened. I had just walked into the bathroom upstairs, when I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye, and I realized that a giant mouse had managed to make its way up the stairs and into the lavatory.
This was a rare occasion indeed, and a nice break from the mess that was the Superbowl mash-up downstairs. In general, mice stay confined to locations with food, a.k.a. the kitchen, so I was immediately intrigued about the little bathroom-fetish fucker, and I quickly shut the bathroom door, formulating a plan in my head to catch him under a container or something (we have random containers in our bathroom). It was completely silent, and I knew he was hiding behind the toilet, so I grabbed my container and took a silent step towards the offender. Now, I'm not afraid of mice. I find them to be quite adorable, and while tracking that mouse, I was quite in the zone (in the past, I've hunted down a mouse in my house after 5 hours of slow-cornering, and I caught the dude with my bare hands). Nonetheless, I was in for a surprise.
Before I could even fathom what was happening, the mouse leapt from the shadows right at my legs, hit my ankles and then proceeded to dart to and fro all over the room, pattering his tiny little paws over my feet several times. I've never jumped, stomped wildly, and yelled "Oh God, oh god, oh god!" so frenetically before in my life. I eventually ended up in the tub, wide-awake with my container raised above my head. After a moment of silence and after realizing the mouse had somehow escaped through a crack in the wall, I burst into hysterical laughter that did not stop for quite awhile.
It was...beautiful.
So here, I give you a recipe for a pocket filled with a variety of different ingredients (not gases, thank god), which while alone can sometimes seem bland and even annoying, end up actually being delicious in their combined randomness. Just make sure you leave time for the pizza dough to sit and rise.
Chicken, Spinach and Mozzarella Calzones
4 large calzones
for the dough
1 package rapid rise yeast (2.5 teaspoons), can substitute active dry yeast
1 C water
1 TB olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
3 C flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 small egg, beaten (for the wash)
sea salt, to sprinkle
for the filling
1 C chicken salad
1 medium tomato, diced
1/4 C canned corn
2-3 C spinach leaves
2 cloves garlic, diced fine
salt, to season
pepper, to season
mayonnaise
olive oil (to cook with)
2 C (4 oz. package) shredded mozzarella
variation: omit the chicken salad, tomatoes and corn and substitute more spinach and some ricotta to make a Spinach Pie or Spinach and Mozzarella Calzone.
Prepare the pizza dough (it will take about 3 hours total). Mix together your yeast, flour and salt, or your dry ingredients
first. If you are using active dry yeast, activate your yeast with the
honey and water first, in a warm and moist environment, until the yeast
has formed a frothy head. Then use it for your wet ingredient mix. If
you are using RapidRise yeast, just add the yeast straight to the dry
ingredients (this is what I did). RapidRise yeast granules are smaller
than Active Dry Yeast granules; you don't want to activate RapidRise
yeast first because it will dissolve too quickly and lose its "rising"
activity quickly. I used RapidRise yeast, so it went straight into my dry ingredients.
In another bowl, mix together all your wet ingredients, whisking until evenly distributed (the oil, the eggs, water and honey). Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients, until a dough as formed. Pour the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Form into a ball, then lace in an oiled bowl, covered, in a warm and moist place. Let rise for 1 hour.
After an hour has passed, remove the dough from the bowl and divide into 4 equal parts. Knead each of these parts until smooth and elastic, then roll into balls and place back in the bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let these four balls rise in a warm and moist environment for another 2 hours.
Prepare your filling during this 2 hour wait. Of course, you can fill the calzone with whatever you want, but I personally like the chicken salad/spinach/mozarella combination, or the spinach/mozzarella combination, which in that case you can add some ricotta for some extra richness. On a pan on the stove at medium heat, warm your olive oil and saute your baby spinach leaves until slightly wilted. Turn off the heat. Season with salt and add in the fresh, diced garlic cloves. Stir until the garlic is evenly distributed in the spinach. Once the spinach is done, take your chicken salad and add in the corn and tomatoes and 1 C of the shredded mozzarella, stirring until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Now all your filling ingredients are prepared and you can wait for your dough.
After 2 hours, the dough should look puffy and as though air bubbles have popped inside of it. At this point, you can wrap the dough in saran wrap and store in the refrigerator, or you can form your pies. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
On a floured surface, take 1 of the 4 balls of dough and roll it into a large thin disk, the size of a small plate. Scoop 1-2 spoonfuls of your chicken salad onto one side of the disk. Place a large spoonful of spinach on top of the chicken salad mound. On top of that, sprinkle more of the mozzarella and pepper. If your chicken salad seems to dry, add a smear of mayonnaise to the other side of the disk. Fold the open side (the one without all the filling) over the filling, and pinch together the edges of the dough shut, forming that classic calzone shape. Feel free to overlap the edges for design effects, etc. but do make sure the dough is pinched shut, or else your filling will spill out while baking. Once the dough has been pinched shut, brush the top of the calzone with egg wash, slice a few vent pockets on top, and sprinkle with sea salt. Repeat with the remaining 3 dough balls.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
Superbowl Sunday was one of those days, in which several little explosions gradually accumulated into an evening of incurable grouchiness. Even though I came home to a warm house with dinner already on the table, from a grueling day of shouting and standing and keeping people in line, it just wasn't enough to overcome the hormonal terror that had taken grasp of my mind. Of course, as I am usually wont to do, instead of properly addressing the issues, of letting a reaction hit equilibrium before I moved onto the next gas pocket, I plowed on through the entire thing and stewed, adding more and more to the theoretical pot, until I was wading in both a figurative and literal dutch oven.
This was a rare occasion indeed, and a nice break from the mess that was the Superbowl mash-up downstairs. In general, mice stay confined to locations with food, a.k.a. the kitchen, so I was immediately intrigued about the little bathroom-fetish fucker, and I quickly shut the bathroom door, formulating a plan in my head to catch him under a container or something (we have random containers in our bathroom). It was completely silent, and I knew he was hiding behind the toilet, so I grabbed my container and took a silent step towards the offender. Now, I'm not afraid of mice. I find them to be quite adorable, and while tracking that mouse, I was quite in the zone (in the past, I've hunted down a mouse in my house after 5 hours of slow-cornering, and I caught the dude with my bare hands). Nonetheless, I was in for a surprise.
Before I could even fathom what was happening, the mouse leapt from the shadows right at my legs, hit my ankles and then proceeded to dart to and fro all over the room, pattering his tiny little paws over my feet several times. I've never jumped, stomped wildly, and yelled "Oh God, oh god, oh god!" so frenetically before in my life. I eventually ended up in the tub, wide-awake with my container raised above my head. After a moment of silence and after realizing the mouse had somehow escaped through a crack in the wall, I burst into hysterical laughter that did not stop for quite awhile.
It was...beautiful.
So here, I give you a recipe for a pocket filled with a variety of different ingredients (not gases, thank god), which while alone can sometimes seem bland and even annoying, end up actually being delicious in their combined randomness. Just make sure you leave time for the pizza dough to sit and rise.
4 large calzones
for the dough
1 package rapid rise yeast (2.5 teaspoons), can substitute active dry yeast
1 C water
1 TB olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
3 C flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 small egg, beaten (for the wash)
sea salt, to sprinkle
for the filling
1 C chicken salad
1 medium tomato, diced
1/4 C canned corn
2-3 C spinach leaves
2 cloves garlic, diced fine
salt, to season
pepper, to season
mayonnaise
olive oil (to cook with)
2 C (4 oz. package) shredded mozzarella
variation: omit the chicken salad, tomatoes and corn and substitute more spinach and some ricotta to make a Spinach Pie or Spinach and Mozzarella Calzone.
Prepare the pizza dough (it will take about 3 hours total). Mix together your yeast, flour and salt, or your dry ingredients
first. If you are using active dry yeast, activate your yeast with the
honey and water first, in a warm and moist environment, until the yeast
has formed a frothy head. Then use it for your wet ingredient mix. If
you are using RapidRise yeast, just add the yeast straight to the dry
ingredients (this is what I did). RapidRise yeast granules are smaller
than Active Dry Yeast granules; you don't want to activate RapidRise
yeast first because it will dissolve too quickly and lose its "rising"
activity quickly. I used RapidRise yeast, so it went straight into my dry ingredients. In another bowl, mix together all your wet ingredients, whisking until evenly distributed (the oil, the eggs, water and honey). Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients, until a dough as formed. Pour the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Form into a ball, then lace in an oiled bowl, covered, in a warm and moist place. Let rise for 1 hour.
After an hour has passed, remove the dough from the bowl and divide into 4 equal parts. Knead each of these parts until smooth and elastic, then roll into balls and place back in the bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let these four balls rise in a warm and moist environment for another 2 hours.
Prepare your filling during this 2 hour wait. Of course, you can fill the calzone with whatever you want, but I personally like the chicken salad/spinach/mozarella combination, or the spinach/mozzarella combination, which in that case you can add some ricotta for some extra richness. On a pan on the stove at medium heat, warm your olive oil and saute your baby spinach leaves until slightly wilted. Turn off the heat. Season with salt and add in the fresh, diced garlic cloves. Stir until the garlic is evenly distributed in the spinach. Once the spinach is done, take your chicken salad and add in the corn and tomatoes and 1 C of the shredded mozzarella, stirring until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Now all your filling ingredients are prepared and you can wait for your dough.
After 2 hours, the dough should look puffy and as though air bubbles have popped inside of it. At this point, you can wrap the dough in saran wrap and store in the refrigerator, or you can form your pies. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
On a floured surface, take 1 of the 4 balls of dough and roll it into a large thin disk, the size of a small plate. Scoop 1-2 spoonfuls of your chicken salad onto one side of the disk. Place a large spoonful of spinach on top of the chicken salad mound. On top of that, sprinkle more of the mozzarella and pepper. If your chicken salad seems to dry, add a smear of mayonnaise to the other side of the disk. Fold the open side (the one without all the filling) over the filling, and pinch together the edges of the dough shut, forming that classic calzone shape. Feel free to overlap the edges for design effects, etc. but do make sure the dough is pinched shut, or else your filling will spill out while baking. Once the dough has been pinched shut, brush the top of the calzone with egg wash, slice a few vent pockets on top, and sprinkle with sea salt. Repeat with the remaining 3 dough balls.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
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