Buffalo Cal-End-Zones for the Greycup!

Greycup is about a week away and this weekend’s gridiron macthups will determine which teams will be going for the cup here in Calgary next weekend. So with plenty of advanced warning, here is a great snack idea that combines some of your favourite football foods.

Run to the kitchen to make these calzones, pass them around at your Greycup party and kick out the old stale game snackers.

Change up your usual game plan and put together a special play to win over the home-crowd. These awesome football-shaped pockets combine the flavour of hotwings with the portability of a calzone all in one easy to eat bundle.

Wrap your hands around these hot and spicy buffalo calzones and burn your way to the Cal-End-Zone to score some big points for the home team.

INGREDIENTS

1 package pre-made frozen pizza dough

oil for cooking

1 red onion, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

1 can tomato puree

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small chunks

Buffalo Wing Hot sauce (Frank’s or Louisiana) to taste

100g blue cheese (crumbly kind)

oil for drizzling

salt

cornmeal for dusting

PROCEDURE

Thaw the pizza dough by following the package instructions. If you know a good pizza dough recipe, you can make your own.

Preheat your oven to 450˚F. If you have a pizza stone, let it heat up for at least 30 minutes.

Get a large frying pan over medium heat and let it heat up for a couple minutes. Add the oil and let it heat up for a few seconds. Toss in the onions and celery and cook for 3 minutes until tender and translucent.

Toss in the chunks of chicken and cook until the chicken is almost cooked through. Stir in the tomato puree and bring it all to a bubbling boil.

Transfer the mess to a bowl and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Add as much hot sauce as you can handle and mix it all in to taste. Season with salt as needed.

Divide your dough into palm-sized balls and roll them out on a lightly floured board until they are about ½ an inch thick. Put a scoop of the filling in the center, sprinkle on the crumbled blue cheese.

Get a little bowl of water on the side, dip a couple fingers in the water and use it to moisten the edges of the dough to make sticking easier.

Fold the dough over in half to create a pocket. Carefully roll, pinch and seal the edges to lock in the goopy filling. Don’t worry about aesthetics as much as creating a strong seal around the edge.  After the first one, you will have a good idea about how much filling you can fit in without making a huge mess.

When they are done place them on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal to prevent sticking. Drizzle some oil on top and sprinkle with salt. You can also make a small vent using a sharp knife to cut a 1 inch hole in the top. When they are all done, you can either bake them directly on a hot pizza stone or just blap the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until the outside is golden and crispy and the inside is nice and bubbly. The vent hole will let steam escape, but will also get pretty bubbly and messy.

Remove the oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes or your face will melt off from eating a mouthful of lava hot saucy filling.