What to cook this weekend (& Zucchini Calzones)
5 old favorites and a new recipe for gooey zucchini pockets
In lieu of a Sunday newsletter this Labor Day weekend, I’m sending out a collection of my favorite summery recipes and including a new recipe below (scroll dooown) for zucchini calzones. My craving for these bloomed after feeling sick after a slice of perfect zucchini pizza (see my post about the new way I’m eating here) and wanting something higher in protein that was oozing with zucchini. The dough for these calzones is based on Tepper’s buckwheat yogurt flatbread in the Lil Deb’s cookbook, and the insides are a gooey mess of grated zucchini, farmer’s cheese, and mozzarella. It’s kinda like an Artichoke pizza? But kinda healthy.
Anyway, check out some other recipes while you’re here. Eat all the corn, eggplant, peaches, and zucchini you can get your hands on this weekend, and lemme know if you find something else wonderful to make with it all!
Did you click on a recipe and the paywall distressed you? Literally just refer 1 person to soft leaves and you’ll get a free month to poke around behind the wall!
Corn Cob Dashi Soba With Summer Vegetables (v, gf)
This recipe has been making the rounds lately, with several people telling me they liked it. It’s really more of an idea than a recipe — infuse your dashi with corn cobs and serve with the kernels — but the overall effect of so much freshness in a noodle bowl is what feels so much like summer to me and makes it a perfect way to showcase whatever nice stuff you’ve got.
Italian Yuba Sandwich (v)
This is a dinner-worthy sandwich that takes a few steps to produce, so it might be worth it to double the recipe for leftovers or to feed a group. I don’t know what else to say about it; it really might be the best sandwich I’ve ever made.
Eggplant and pine nut pasta (v)
This is the meatiest non-meat vegetable-ful pasta dish, great for a crowd. I know pine nuts are expensive, but I wouldn’t make you buy them if it wasn’t worth it.
Blueberry Frito Corn Cookies
This cookies are a little off-brand for me, because they are quite sweet and they do have butter, but I love the texture and the mix of sweet and salty. They feel like a cookie that Milk Bar would make (Party Idea I’ve had for awhile: Imaginary restaurant, in which everyone brings dishes that could be served at some iconic restaurant but aren’t actually on the menu.)
Peach Cornbread Cobbler
Just a basic cobbler, tweaked to my idea of perfection: not too sweet, with a crunchy biscuit topping that’s tangy from buttermilk. I think I’m going to make a huge one to give to all my new neighbors so that they’ll like us and forgive our messy front lawn and the fact that there are like 10 people here every weekend.
New Recipe: Zucchini Calzones
This makes 6 fairly large calzones, but Miro ate almost a whole one by himself, so let’s say it serves 6-10 people? They are great reheated the next day for breakfast.
Yield: 6 calzones
Ingredients
Dough
1 tablespoon yeast
300 grams (2 ½ cups) AP flour
240 grams (2 cups) whole wheat flour (or use all AP)
340-400 grams (1½-1¾ cups) whole milk yogurt
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon sea salt
Filling
35 oz (4 medium) zucchinis
2 teaspoons sea salt
8 oz farmers cheese or ricotta
8 oz (1 small ball) low moisture mozzarella, shredded
¼ cup grated parmesan
2 fat cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch basil, washed and leaves picked from stems
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large egg
Olive oil, for brushing
Method
Mix the dough: In a small bowl, mix the yeast with 2 tablespoons warm water and set aside for a couple minutes to let bloom. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add the AP and whole wheat flour, bloomed yeast, yogurt and honey. By hand or using a dough hook, knead the dough for about 5 minutes. It should begin to form a ball, but if not, add more yogurt a tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together.
Add the salt and knead for another 3-5 minutes, until you have a smooth ball.
Cover the dough with plastic or a clean kitchen towel and leave to rise at a warm room temperature for an hour.
Dust some flour on the counter and dump out the dough. Divide it into 6 equal pieces and shape each one into a ball: Set the dough on the counter, cup the ball from behind with two hands and jerk it toward you so that the bottom sticks slightly to the counter. Turn it and continue until the dough is a perfect ball. Place the dough balls on a flour-dusted sheet tray and cover with plastic or a towel to rise again for 30-60 minutes.
Drain the zucchini: While the dough is rising, grate the zucchinis. Put the grated zucchini into a colander and toss with 2 teaspoons salt. Set aside in the sink or in a larger bowl to drain, 30 minutes up to a few hours.
Squeeze the zucchini to release as much water as possible. In a bowl, mix together the zucchini, farmers cheese, shredded mozzarella, and parmesan. Add the basil and mix well. Taste and add salt and pepper until you like it.
Beat the egg in a small bowl and mix it into the filling.
On a flour-dusted surface, roll out each dough ball between ⅛-inch and ¼-inch thick. Scoop 1/6 of the filling (about ¾ cup) onto one half of the dough, and pull the other half over on top of it. Use a fork to crimp the edge shut (then if you have enough space, roll the edge over). Transfer three calzones to each parchment-lined sheet tray.
With a small knife, cut a few slits in the top of each calzone. Brush the tops generously with olive oil.
Let the calzones rest uncovered while you preheat the oven to 450° (or 425° with convection).
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Let cool on the tray for a minute then remove to a cooling rack so the bottoms don’t get soggy.