Ricotta-Artichoke Calzone with Zip and Trekking

This recipe is a Scribbit original, made it up myself. Was it successful? Depends on how you measure success. Did my family like it? Yup yup.

Did I like it? Absolutely. Did I eat too much of it and make a pig of myself?

Sigh. That's where the debate about "success" comes in. I ate way too much and you can guarantee this one was not low-calorie. I guess this little piggy really went to market.

Dough:
1 1/2 cups warm water
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon light olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast

Filling:
1 tub of ricotta (I think they're 16 ounces?)
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 ounces diced chilies
1/2 cup finely diced onion
1 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1 can artichoke hearts (about 14 ounces?)
3 cups broccoli, lightly steamed and finely chopped

Combine the ingredients for the dough in the order above in the bucket of your bread machine. Set to "dough" cycle and push start.

In a saucepan, saute the chilies, onion and garlic in the olive oil over a medium heat until the onions until translucent (about five minutes). Add the broccoli and stir, cooking another minute or so.

Remove from heat, allow to cool slightly then add the four cheeses. When the dough is ready, divide it into 8-10 circles (depending on how big you want to make them) then spoon a fair amount of filling into each flattened circle of dough. Fold in half, seal edges carefully to avoid leakage, then prick the tops with a fork and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 420 and bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. When they come out rub the crusts with a dab of olive oil or even a spray of olive oil to give them a nice shine and soften them beautifully.

Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan if desired. You can never have too much cheese.

***

Andrew and I saw Star Trek this weekend. Fabulous movie! It reminded me of Iron Man in that I didn't have high expectations but it really delivered and it reminded me of Batman Begins because it was a great example of giving a successful face lift to a franchise.

I'd heard an interview with J.J. Abrams and it came out that he hadn't really seen the original Star Trek series or subsequent movies and in my judgmental mind I thought "Well then, what kind of an idiot would try to make a movie when he couldn't be bothered to see what he had to live up to? He'll probably mess everything up like a Centarian bothgar."

I just made that up (obviously). Really, I'm not that big of a Trekkie but I have seen all the previous movies and this one is by FAR the best.

It's got a terrific cast. There's just enough of the original characters in each performance to be familiar yet the faces are fresh and appealing and give it that dose of hipness that make it okay to once again admit you always thought Spock was cool. I heard Abrams say in an interview that the actors were great to work with too because they're relatively unfamous and down to earth so that diva element wasn't a hindrance like it is on so many sets.

Cocky Kirk? Check. Uptight Spock? Check. Funny Scotty and Chekov? Double check. Sexy Uhura? Downright smokin'! (Oh and as a sidenote--the original Uhura was played by actress Nichelle Nichols. My maiden name was Michelle Nichols. That makes either her or me pretty cool, I'm not sure which).

The brilliant thing about the movie (and I'm not really giving any spoilers out here because this is established at the onset of the movie) is that there is a time warp running through the plot which alters the space-time continuum and in essence sets the story off into an alternative reality right from the beginning so that we have the same old characters but new experiences.

So all those die-hard fans who might otherwise object to changes in the story line and character backgrounds can't really be upset because they've now been given a "plausible" explanation for why things might be slightly different than in the original series. It's an alternate universe created from that point of time warp which changed the destinies of the entire crew yet kept their characters essentially the same. Brilliant.

This allows any future movies (and there will be more, oh yes there will be more) to use these same actors and characters but not be bound by any story lines from the original series. Of course it also means that we as an audience can't sit in our seats, comfortably assured that all our favorites will make it through unscathed because they exist in the "future" in the original series. Abrams might kill of Spock or Sulu unapologetically in the next installment with a shrug and a "Sorry! Alternate universe!" excuse. None of them are safe.

Or he's free to introduce all sorts of new plot devices that weren't there with Shatner and Nimoy. Who knows? Maybe they'll even get some decent costumes--that really would be the test of true greatness for this new crew. Can they get a outfit for female officers that aren't either skanky or androgenous? Only time will tell.

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