Lentil Mushroom Feta Calzones

These lentil mushroom feta calzones are the perfect picnic food, easy to transport and even easier to eat. The filling is tasty and the crust divine. 

I made these into four large calzones to feed four hungry people but the dough and filling could be easily divided into small portions to make more smaller calzones. The combination of lentils, mushrooms and feta creates a hearty filling that even the carnivores in your family will enjoy. 

Lentil Mushroom Feta Calzones

The folding technique for the edges of the calzones is one that is employed by the bakers of the traditional Cornish pasty. Except I like to leave the little tail out rather than tucking in under. Check out how here: Cousin Jack's Pasty Co.

Ingredients

For the dough:

3/4 cup or 180ml lukewarm water (not hot)

1 teaspoon active-dry yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

2 cups or 250g strong bread flour, plus more if needed

1 teaspoon salt

Drizzle olive oil for the dough bowl

For the filling:

1/2 cup or 110g uncooked or 1 1/8 cups or 220g cooked/rinsed Puy (French) lentils (If you are cooking them, boil with 1/2 teaspoon baking soda till tender. Drain and rinse.)

6 1/3 oz or 180g baby portabella mushrooms

2-3 medium cloves garlic

Drizzle of oil for the cooking pan

1 medium tomato – about 4 2/3 oz or 130g, cut into small pieces

1 fresh jalapeño, optional but recommended, chopped 

Method

Put the yeast and sugar in a bowl. Pour in the warm water and give it a stir. Set aside for a few minutes. It should start to get foamy on top. 

In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk the flour and salt together. Pour in the yeast mixture and mix well to form a soft dough.

Using the dough hook on the stand mixer, or kneading by hand against the counter, knead the dough until it forms a smooth, slightly tacky ball that springs back when you poke it, 5 to 8 minutes. If the dough sticks to the bowl or your hands, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it’s easier to work with.

Avoid adding too much flour if possible. I didn’t add any this time whereas the last time, I added two tablespoons. This is the sort of thing that can change with your flour and the humidity in the air. 

If you're planning to make the calzones today, then give the dough a rise. Clean out the mixing bowl, coat it with a little oil, and transfer the dough back inside. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and let the dough rise until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Alternatively, you can store the dough in the fridge and make the calzones the next day. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate. 

Either way, make the filling which can also be stored in the refrigerator overnight or cooled and used the same day. 

Put the cooked, rinsed lentils in a mixing bowl that is large enough to hold all of the filling ingredients, with room to stir. 

Clean and chop the mushrooms and mince the garlic. 

Drizzle a little oil into a big the pot and add the garlic. 

Cook it briefly, making sure it doesn’t burn, then add the mushrooms. 

Cook them until golden. Add them to the lentil bowl. 

Add the tomato and jalapeño, if using, to the now empty pot along with another drizzle of oil. 

Cook for 8-10 minutes, until the tomato and jalapeño are well cooked and slump into a paste. Add the paste to the lentil/mushroom bowl and stir well. Leave to cool. 

Once the rest of the filling is cool, crumble the feta and gently fold it in. 

Take the dough out of the refrigerator about half an hour before you are ready to bake. Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Divide the dough into four balls.

Roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle about 7 in or 17.75cm across. 

Put about 1/4 of the cooled filling (about 5 1/3 oz or 150g) on one side of the circle.

Gently lift the other side up and over, pressing the air out as you stick the edges of the two halves together.

Starting on one side of the semi circle, crimp the edges to seal the calzones. (See note above the ingredient list for a link to an instructional video.) Repeat until all of the calzones have been filled and formed.

Transfer the calzones to your baking tray, leaving enough room between them so that they can rise while baking. Brush the tops lightly with olive oil.

Bake in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and puffed.

These can be eaten hot or at room temperature. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and since it’s National Picnic Month, we are going on a picnic! Hope the weather is fine where you live. Check out all the great recipe links below. Many thanks to our host, Camilla at Culinary Cam!

• A Crostini Array by Culinary Cam
• Bacon & Chive Deviled Eggs with Hot Honey by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Chocolate Truffle Cookies by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Eggless Brookies - Brownie Cookies by Sneha's Recipe
• Grill Cake (and Vanilla Cake Recipe) by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Lentil Mushroom Feta Calzones by Food Lust People Love
• Lobster Roll Pasta Salad by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Mayo-less Tuna Salad by Our Good Life

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Cheesy Skillet Cornbread #BreadBakers

This cheesy skillet cornbread has a crunchy bottom and a tender cheesy crumb. It is the perfect accompaniment to your favorite soup or barbecue meal!

This month for our Bread Bakers event, we are sharing breads that are great for cookouts and barbecues. Cornbread is a popular choice, especially in the south because it’s delicious and so easy to make. Serve it with butter to slather on and watch it disappear. 

Cheesy Skillet Cornbread 

This is essentially my mom’s cornbread recipe, just with the addition of cheese. She always heats the oil in the pan first to help create the crunchy crust we all love. Use an iron skillet for best results. 

Ingredients

1 cup or 150g yellow cornmeal (aka fine polenta)

1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

6 oz or 170g extra sharp cheddar, grated

1 cup or 240ml milk, sometimes I will add a tiny bit more milk if I find it too thick

1 egg

1/4 cup or 60ml canola oil, plus extra for the skillet

Equipment: a 10 in or 25cm well-seasoned iron skillet

Method

Preheat your oven to 425°F or 218°C.  

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. 

Add in the grated cheddar and stir so the cheese is coated.

Add milk, egg and oil. Beat until fairly smooth, about one minute. Scrape bottom and sides well. 

Coat the bottom of your small skillet with oil. Heat it on the stovetop till just smoking then pour the batter in it and put it in the oven.

Bake for 20-23 minutes or until the lightly browned on top. You can insert a toothpick in the middle to test for doneness. 

Remove from the oven when golden on top and leave to cool for a few minutes before cutting it into wedges to serve. 

Enjoy! 

Check out the great recipes my fellow Bread Bakers are sharing for your barbecue below. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Texas Toast starting with Homemade English Muffin Bread
• Food Lust People Love: Cheesy Skillet Cornbread
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Homemade Ciabatta Garlic Bread
• Palatable Pastime: Traeger Bacon Cornbread
• A Messy Kitchen: Sweet Corn Muffins
• Sneha’s Recipe: Homemade English Muffins
• Passion Kneaded: Hamburger Potato Buns

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Buttermilk Sourdough Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

These buttermilk sourdough cornbread muffins are fluffy and buttery with a hint of coconut flavor from two tablespoons of coconut oil. They make a great breakfast or snack but go equally well served with chili or stew. 

I have coconut oil in the pantry because our younger daughter uses it for the great granola that she makes but I never thought about using it in a muffin. That is, until I saw a recipe for sourdough discard cornbread on The Clever Carrot. 

The addition of just the two tablespoons of coconut oil adds a really subtle coconut flavor that we found delightful. I saved one for my mom and she agreed. The original recipe wasn’t for muffins so I did quite a bit of adapting to stick to my preferred easy mix muffin method. All in all, this recipe got a “would make again” rating. 

Buttermilk Sourdough Cornbread Muffins

As mentioned above, this recipe is adapted from one on The Clever Carrot.  The original makes an 8x8 inch or 23x23cm pan of cornbread. 

Ingredients

1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pan 

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 cup or 125g flour

1/2 cup or 90g cornmeal

1/3 cup or 66g granulated sugar 

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup or 100g sourdough discard

1/2 cup or 120ml buttermilk

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Prepare a 9-cup muffin pan by greasing it or lining it with muffin liners. 

In a microwavable bowl, soften the butter and coconut oil with a few quick zaps, stirring well in between. (Or soften the butter and coconut oil over low heat in a small pot.) The mixture doesn’t need to be liquid, just softened and well combined.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Whisk the butter mixture, sourdough starter, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla together in a large mixing bowl. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl and fold them together till all the flour and cornmeal are completely moistened. 

Divide the batter between your nine muffin cups.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and set on a wire rack to cool.

Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Enjoy! 

Happy Muffin Monday! Yep, it’s the last Monday of the month and I can hardly believe it’s already March! This year is flying by. Check out the muffin recipes my fellow bloggers are sharing today:

• Bacon and Whiskey Maple Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Buttermilk Sourdough Cornbread Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Heart Healthy Coconut Carrot Muffins from Magical Ingredients
• Sourdough Chocolate Chunk Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Vanilla White Chocolate Chunk Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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Rosalynn Carter’s Baked Cheese Grits

Rosalynn Carter’s baked cheese grits are light, fluffy, almost souffle-like, with lots of extra sharp cheddar and crispy bacon. They are soooo good! 

In honor of Women’s History Month which begins on March 1st, my Sunday FunDay friends and I are sharing recipes from inspirational women. I am hosting so my instructions for the theme were simple: “Make and share a recipe from an important, significant woman in any field, not just cooking, and from any era. It can be something they were known to love OR actually cooked themselves. Please tell us how they are inspiring to you and perhaps others.”

As I researched various women of significance, hoping for a person that wasn’t a cook or chef yet had still shared at least one recipe of something we might actually like to eat, I came across several recipes purporting to be Rosalynn Carter’s cheese grits. Most of them had Vidalia onion and bacon so I was totally onboard, until I discovered that those were later additions by a fellow blogger and everyone else had just copied her. 

I also came across a grits recipe from the White House Cookbook which turned out to be the one the blogger had embellished. When I finally found Rosalynn Carter’s actual original recipe, shared on the back of an Equal Rights Amendment flyer, it was pretty basic so the recipe I am sharing here is a sort of combination of both. 

[“ERA Flyer Back,” National Organization for Women, Tallahassee Chapter Records, MSS 2008-033, Box 15, Folder 5, Florida State University Libraries Special Collections & Archives, Tallahassee, Florida.]

I chose Rosalynn Carter to honor because of her advocacy for better mental health care throughout her life, starting as first lady of Georgia in 1970. As she said in an interview when asked why she chose to focus on mental health: "For every person who needs mental health care to be able to receive it close to his home, and to remove the stigma from mental health care so people will be free to talk about it and seek help. It's been taboo for so long to admit you had a mental health problem." 

Carter was ahead of her time and I am certain her advocacy helped a lot of people get the care they needed. Truly an inspiration. 

Rosalynn Carter’s Baked Cheese Grits

The original recipe, as you can see, did not call for bacon or cayenne but I do believe that both are a great addition to this baked cheese grits recipe. In The White House Family Cookbook, by Henry Haller, the method of adding the eggs and their number was changed and chicken bouillon was used to cook the grits instead of plain water. 

Ingredients

3 slices of thick-cut bacon, chopped

4 cups or 946ml chicken bouillon

1 cup or 180g 5-minute quick grits

1/4 teaspoon cayenne, plus a sprinkle for topping

1/4 cup or 56g unsalted butter, plus extra for the greasing the pan

8 oz or 227g extra sharp cheddar, grated,

4 egg yolks

¼ or 60ml cold milk

4 egg whites, at room temperature

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 2-quart casserole dish by greasing it. 

In a frying pan, fry the chopped bacon until lightly brown. Drain on paper towels. Set aside.

Bring the bouillon to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan; add grits gradually, stirring with a wire whisk so that they don’t form clumps. 

Reduce heat and continue cooking, stirring vigorously, until mixture thickens.

Cover and simmer for until all liquid is absorbed—about 5-7 minutes,

Remove from heat and add in the cayenne, Worcestershire sauce and butter. Stir till butter has melted. 

Add in the bacon and about 3/4 of cheese, reserving the last 1/4 for topping. 

Stir until well blended.

In a measuring cup, blend the egg yolks with the milk. Pour mixture into grits and mix thoroughly.

In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold one scoop of the grits into the egg whites. 

Then carefully fold all of the egg whites into the grits.

Pour the mixture into prepared baking dish. 

Sprinkle with the reserved cheese and a dash of cayenne.

Bake on middle shelf of preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, or until fluffy and golden. 

Enjoy! 

Check out the Sunday FunDay recipes and inspiring women we are sharing! 

• Basil-Dressed Chicken Salad with Tomatoes from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Drumstick Curry in Coconut Sauce - No Onion No Garlic from Sneha’s Recipe
• Irio, Kenyan Style from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Philly Cheesesteak from Amy’s Cooking Adventures 
• Rosalynn Carter’s Baked Cheese Grits from Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join. 

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Salmon and Shrimp Strudel

This salmon and shrimp strudel is fish pie made fancy but that doesn’t mean it’s not easy! Puff pastry elevates this most tasty of fillings to fabulous. 

I’m a fan of pastry in all its forms, shortcrust, puff, rough puff, phyllo, what else have I missed? I firmly believe that with a bit of pastry any dish is made better, especially if it bakes up flakey, golden and maybe a little bit crunchy. 

For just that reason, for this month’s Fish Friday Foodie friends event, I chose seafood in pastry for our theme. I make this same dish with chicken for a fancy chicken pie but the salmon and shrimp version is way more flavorful. 

Salmon and Shrimp Strudel

Do not get too caught up in exact weights for the vegetables. I give the weights of mine to give you a guideline only. After all, my idea of what a small onion is may not be the same as your own. This makes enough filling for two salmon and shrimp strudels. I baked one the first day and saved the filling for about the third day, refrigerated, then baked the second. Both delicious and we were delighted to eat it again, just the two of us. If you are feeding four people, bake them both the same day! 

Ingredients - to serve four 

1/2 large or 1 whole small onion (about 5 1/3 oz or 150g)

1 long stalk celery, trimmed (about 2 3/4 oz or 78g)

1 - 2 medium carrots, cut in fine dice (ideally you want about the same amount of carrots as peas)

1 potato, cut in large dice (9 oz or 256g unpeeled) – soaked in cold water to stop it turning brown

1 1/2 cups or 380ml milk

1 teaspoon fine sea salt for poaching, plus extra at the end for final seasoning

10 oz or 284g wild salmon

1 lb or 450g thawed, peeled shrimp

1 slice streaky bacon

2 tablespoons or 28g butter or a little bit extra as needed

1/4 cup or 31g flour

2 tablespoons or 30ml heavy cream

1 tablespoon whole grained mustard

Zest and juice of ½ lemon

3/4 cup or 95g frozen peas, thawed

1 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

2 (9 oz or 255g) all butter puff pastry sheet (I used the Trader Joe’s brand), thawed

Method

Peel and mince the onion. Remove the tough strings and mince the celery. Peel and cut the carrots into small dice. Notice the peas for size comparison. 

Poach the salmon in simmering milk, skin side down, for 10 minutes. 

Remove the salmon from the pot with a slotted spoon and add the shrimp. 

Bring it back up to temperature and then turn it down to simmer for about 5 minutes. 

While the shrimp poach, carefully remove the skin from the salmon and discard. 

(Or fry till crispy with a little oil in a nonstick skillet as the chef’s treat. We always do!)

Remove the shrimp from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. 

Cook the potato cubes in the reserved poaching liquid for about five minutes or until almost cooked through. Use a slotted spoon to remove from the liquid. Pour the liquid into another vessel and set both aside to cool.  

Wash the pot out and then fry the bacon strip in it. Remove it from the pot when crispy. Chop the bacon into small strips.

Add the butter to any bacon fat left in the pan and sauté the onion, celery and carrots in it for about 10-12 minutes, covered, until softened. 

Test a carrot piece. If it’s cooked or just about, you are good to go. 

Slowly sprinkle the flour onto the vegetables and stir well with each addition. 

We are trying to avoid lumps of flour. Add a little more butter if the flour is dry. 

Cook for a few minutes. Stir in the poaching liquid slowly. 

Cook for a couple of minutes until the mixture thickens a little. 

Remove the pan from the heat. 

Add in the bacon, cream, mustard, lemon zest and juice. Stir well. 

Add in cooked potatoes and the shrimp, along with any juice that has accumulated on the cooling plate. Use your hands to break the salmon into smaller pieces and add them to the pot. Don’t go too small or they will ending breaking down completely when you fold to mix. Top with the peas.

Fold the ingredients together gently. Sprinkle with a little salt, the black pepper and cayenne, if using. 

Fold the ingredients again to combine. 

Refrigerate the filling, covered, until it is chilled and you are ready to bake the strudel. 

When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Lay one square of the puff pastry out on piece of baking parchment. 

Use a rolling pin to roll it out a little more from the middle, creating a rectangle out of your puff pastry square. 

Pile half of the cold filling in the middle of the puff pastry.

Cut slits in each side about a 1/2 inch or 1 cm in width. Leave the ends intact. 

Fold one end up and tuck the sides toward the middle. Fold the other end up and pinch to connect them to hold in the filling. 

Cut the rest of the pastry outside into pieces. Randomly pull each cut piece up and over, connecting them together over the filling and pinching to make them hold, knowing that they probably won’t but, hey, it’s worth a try. 

If you are baking both strudels the same day, put the first filled one in the refrigerator and repeat the process with the second puff pastry and the rest of the filling.

Bake the strudel in your preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden and the filling is hot through. (Use a thermometer to check.) If it’s browning more quickly than it is heating through, you can cover it with foil. 

Remove from the oven and leave to rest for about 10 minutes before slicing to serve.  

Enjoy! 

Check out the lovely pastry seafood dishes my Fish Friday Foodie friends are sharing today: 

• Gluten Free Prawn /Shrimp Quiche - with Homemade Gluten Free Pie Crust from Sneha's Recipe
• Salmon and Shrimp Strudel from Food Lust People Love
• Shrimp Cups from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Shrimp in a Blanket from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

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