Pizza with escarole (a tender, slightly bitter and earthy green) is a dish that often appears around Christmas time in Campania, Italy. It’s especially popular as a Christmas Eve lunch when Neapolitans prefer to eat something lighter before the heavy dinner. The traditional preparation involves dough pressed into a round pan with a drizzle of olive oil, followed by a filling of escarole, olives, capers, pine nuts or walnuts, raisins and anchovies. It’s then topped with a thinner disc of dough, similar to a savoury pizza.
For this updated version, Milan-based award-winning chef Lorenzo Sirabella opts for a calzone instead of a pizza and cooks it in an Ooni for a super fast bake. The dough is crunchy on the outside and pillowy on the inside, stuffed with escarole, garlic, olives, capers, walnuts, raisins, anchovies, provola (a soft, stringy cheese made with whole buffalo milk or sometimes cow’s milk) and Parmigiano Reggiano. Not too heavy and just the right amount of salty and cheesy, this is a great meal anytime you want to mix up your pizza game (holidays not required!).