Easy Turkey Meatball Calzones

I like to record the Rachel Ray show and fast forward to the end for dinner ideas. The other day, Rachel was making easy looking Turkey Meatball Calzones that sounded pretty good! They looked a little dry so I will probably play around with the recipe a bit... but in the meantime, HERE it is from her website.

In purple below are the changes I made. Black text is the original recipe. These turned out really good!

Florentine Meatball Calzones with Creamy Tomato Dipper

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box frozen chopped spinach (10 ounces), defrosted and wrung of excess water ~ I used 1/4 package fresh spinach, chopped up.
  
• 2 pounds ground turkey (or beef)
  
• 1 small onion, half grated and half finely chopped ~ 1/2 cup frozen diced onions
  
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated, divided
• 2 large eggs, 1 lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup breadcrumbs (about 3 handfuls) ~ I used whatever crackers I had lying around, crushed.
  
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (about 2 handfuls) ~ I omitted this
  
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• A few grates fresh nutmeg ~ I used powdered
  
• Salt and ground black pepper ~ I omitted this
  
• 2 tubes refrigerated pizza dough (10-ounces each) ~ I only used one package and made 1/2 as many calzones since it was just for my husband and I.
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes ( 14.5-ounces), (you can use regular tomatoes crushed if you have them on hand)
• 1/4 cup basil (a handful), chopped ~ forgot to add this in ;)
  
• 1/4 cup heavy cream ~ I didn't have cream so I used organic whole milk.
  

DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat oven to 425ºF.

Calzones
Combine the spinach, ground turkey/beef, grated onion, half of the garlic, 1 egg, breadcrumbs/crushed crackers, cheese(s), nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Work the mixture together with your hands until combined and set aside.

Spread one of the pizza doughs out onto the counter. Cut in half width-wise and in thirds lengthwise, making 6 squares.
Take a handful of the meat mixture (about 1/4 cup), shape into a meatball and drop it onto the corner of one of the squares. Continue in this way until there's a meatball on each square.

Brush the edges of each square with a little of the beaten egg and fold the opposite corner over to close in the meatball and make a calzone.
Fold and press the edges to seal the meatball inside.
Brush the tops lightly with egg. Repeat with the remaining meat and dough and arrange all of the calzones on a baking sheet.
Bake until dark golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Sauce
While the calzones are baking, place a medium saucepan over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons.
Add the chopped onion and remaining garlic to the pan, season with salt and pepper and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
Add the crushed tomatoes to the pan with the basil and simmer the sauce until thickened up a bit, 2-3 minutes.
Turn the heat off and add the cream/milk.



Since I only made 1/2 the amount of calzones, I had a ton of meatball mixture left over. I decided to make meatballs out of it; cooked them for 14 minutes after the calzones were done; and froze them to use later.