Lunch feature 24.09.10

Calzone:
Red Wine Fed Beef Pepperoni
Chanterelle & Summer Squash Ragout
Parmesan

I have made a concerted effort not to be repetitive in my specials this season, and for the most part I have succeeded. When I saw Jon making his already stunning pepperoni with local red wine fed beef the first thing I thought was pizza. Pizza is a bit hard for us to execute in our kitchen with very limited oven space, so as a result the calzone made it's second appearance of the year. No shame in that.

So, just like before, I made a pizza dough and got together all my mise en place so that I could make calzones for the masses. The pepperoni was easy for me, as Jon had already made it, all I needed to do was slice it and steal all his glory. The Chanterelle's were picked locally so I was an extra special joy to work with those as well. I sauteed them with shallots and garlic and then cooked them with pureed tomatoes until a nice sauce consistency was reached. I grilled some summer squash and then dice that up and put it into the ragout once I had removed it from the heat. This made sure that the squash didn't get all soggy and such. Then all that was left to do was pile the Parmesan, ragout and pepperoni in a pizza dough and fold it over.

Served with your choice of soup or salad. I made 20 of them and sold them out to the first 25 customers. Hmmm, perhaps the clientele are telling me something. Anyhow, it was a crappy day out and this was a nice dish to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Oh, and by the way, Jon's pepperoni smelled sooooo good cooking in those calzones. Nice work Jon.

Sean Peltier