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Food For Thought: Nancy's Kitchen Sink Calzone

With warm summer weather just about here what better time to crank up the oven to 550 degrees?  A little thermal discomfort is a small price to pay for the pleasures of the pizza and calzone Nancy Leson and I talked about.

My inspiration came from Lady and Pups' Eggplant Parmesan Pizza with Crispy Capers.  L&P's Mandy Lee suggests laying out thinly sliced eggplant on a sheet pan, brushing with olive oil and covering with parmesan.  Run it under the broiler until browned. Layer the the eggplant between coatings of red sauce and top with cheese.  The whole thing is finished with a sprinkling of crisp-fried capers.

One caveat: Lee says to lay the eggplant slices on parchment paper before broiling. I'd suggest foil instead. 

I was surprised to hear Nancy, aka The One-Hour Bagel Queen stick up for long ferments but she insists on a minimum two-day to week-long refrigerated rest for the flatbread dough recipe she got from the "Zahav Cookbook."  The dough also makes a great calzone crust which Leson filled with the rest of the contents of her fridge.

"Different types of cheeses.  I threw some tapenade in there.  I had some basil pesto instead of tomato sauce.  I put a fresh tomato in.  I had a bit of chorizo that I sliced instead of pepperoni,"  And that's just the ingredients she's admitting to.

Don't want to heat up your own kitchen in pursuit of pie?  Nance suggests two joints she tried recently. Bruciato on Bainbridge, where she loved the clam pizza.

Credit Nancy Leson
Bruciato clam pizza

And China Pies in Fremont.  Pizza and Asian dumplings! "If I go in there I'm handcuffing myself to the counter," I vowed.

" ...I go into my room and find pieces of pizza under the laundry." – Rick Majerus

Dick Stein joined KNKX in January 1992. He retired in 2020 after three decades on air. During his storied radio career, he hosted the morning jazz show, co-hosted and produced "Food for Thought" with Nancy Leson and wrote and directed the Jimmy Jazzoid live radio musical comedies and 100 episodes of Jazz Kitchen.