Calzone from Salzburg

Two years ago, in mid-2010, we had a holiday in central Europe. Like all of my independent adult overseas trips to date, the holiday was linked to a conference, thereby allowing me to avoid paying airfares.

(By 'all of my trips', I should perhaps clarify that there have been two. One in 2008 when I was still doing my PhD, and one in 2010. The third is scheduled for later this year when I have a conference in Portugal, giving rise to an every-other-year approach. Long may that last!)

Our 2010 trip started in Austria, initially Vienna, and then on to Salzburg where my conference was held. The trip brought many firsts. It was the first holiday Mr Bite and I had taken together, after a year of dating (something that could have ended badly if we'd discovered we only liked each other in small doses). It was the first time I'd been to Austria, and to the European countries we visited afterwards: Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. We finished off in England, which I did know.

Mirabell Gardens, Salzburg, Austria

When we were in Salzburg, I also had a first in the form of calzone. Now, this is not an Austrian dish. However, we found Austrian restaurants surprisingly hard to locate in Salzburg. There was an amusing trend, at least in 2010, towards restaurants that served Austrian, Indian and Italian. There were also some Indian only and Italian only restaurants, but purely Austrian establishments were hard to come by.

Danube River and Salzburg city

We weren't particularly keen to try traditional Austrian dinners, given they are very meat heavy, but we were keen to avoid eating somewhere that claimed proficiency in three very different cuisines. It just seemed risky to trust that an Austrian-based chef would be able to competently cook Austrian, Indian and Italian!

As a result, we ate a lot of Italian in Austria. Although I didn't order calzone myself, Mr Bite enjoyed it and the concept remained with me when we returned home.

I have made calzone a few times since then, using variations of the recipe below. It is a surprisingly easy dish. I have found that the dough is nicest when herbs are mixed into it, and when rolled as thin as possible - I don't generally do a good job with the rolling component, and as such my calzones are often spilling out the sides (see above!). However, this is a meal that's hard to ruin, and it is also very easy to adapt to taste. 

Salzburg-inspired Vegetarian Calzone

Makes two large calzones

Vegetarian; vegan if made without cheese or with soy cheese

Print recipe

Ingredients

For the dough

2 cups plain flour

Pinch salt

3 - 4g (1/2 sachet) dry instant yeast

3/4 cup warm water

Dried herbs to taste - I like oregano and basil

For the filling

~3 tbsp tomato paste (1 sachet if you buy sachets)

Drizzle olive oil

1 small or 1/2 large onion, sliced

1 small zucchini, sliced

1 capsicum, diced

1/4 cup mushrooms, sliced

2 tomatoes, diced

1 - 2 tsp dried oregano (or herb/s of choice)

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: grated cheese (I use cheddar for Mr Bite's version, probably about 1/4 cup)

Method

For the dough

Combine the flour, salt, yeast and warm water in a large bowl. Knead for several minutes until smooth and then leave in a warm place for about an hour, until doubled in size.

For the filling

Saute the onion, zucchini and capsicum until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and keep over low heat for another 1 - 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the tomatoes, oregano and seasonings.

To make the calzone

When the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 220'C and knead the dough again lightly before dividing into two. Add any herbs to the dough at this stage. Roll each dough half out on a floured surface, into rounds that are ~2 cm thick. Spread each round with tomato paste. 

Place one half of the filling on one side of the dough, and then fold the other side over to enclose the filling. If using cheese, add cheese to the filling ingredients before folding. Brush the folded edges with water and then pinch to close.

Bake on a lined baking sheet for 20 minutes.

Hot, gooey (even without cheese), packed with vegetables, and easy to make.

Definitely a nice dish to take away from Salzburg, even if it didn't originate there!

Do you have any calzone memories? Or have you been to Salzburg - in which case, how did you find the food?

To those of you who expressed interest in pink laces - expect an email from me over the next day or two :-)

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