Truffle Salami and Three Cheese Calzone & Win a $150 Woolworths Gold Voucher!

Dear Reader, when I was a small child, I was terrified of one thing: large dogs, especially Alsatian dogs or German Shepherds.

Mr NQN recently jogged my memory of another incident with dogs when I was a very small child. I was in a park and having had very little experience with dogs, large or small, I was running. Little did I know that dogs love chasing people that are running and a nearby German shepherd took flight after me. All I could see were its enormous jaws and slobbering saliva so I ran faster while screaming.

My teacher yelled at me to stop running but of course I couldn't help myself. I mean who in their right mind is going to stop running so that a dog can catch you and bite you? And this is before the days of Hero Cat. There was no Hero Cat but a boy in my class did throw a stick and run in another direction to distract the dog. So there was no Hero Cat but there was a little Hero Boy who became my slight crush after that. My teacher told me off for running and chided me with an unsympathetic, "You should have stopped!" So while I love dogs, but Alsatians or German shepherds still scare the bejeezus out of me.

Speaking of not being able to help myself, a few months ago I put myself on a cheese toastie ban. I think it was the lustful gluttony in which I ate a three cheese and salami toastie that did it. So I've found a sneaky way to get around that ban. That is to make the salami and three cheese filling in a calzone. See? It's not a toastie but a calzone ;).

I used the new Woolworths Gold Hand Crafted Truffle Salami. They use 100% Australian Darling Downs pork and at $13.50 for 400grams, it is very reasonably priced. There is a minimum of 95% pork in this along with Himalayan pink salt, red wine and garlic. There is also the hint of truffle oil and black Italian truffles in this coarse ground salami. Every salami is hand tied and comes wrapped in cloth. I paired it with a combination of three cheeses: a goat's fromage frais, mozzarella and tallegio.

So that one lucky reader can buy the ingredients to make this and try some other Woolworths Gold goodies, we are giving away a $150 Woolworths voucher for one winner! To enter, just tell me which Woolworths Gold product you'd like to try and why! Simply add your answer as a comment to the story. The competition ends at midnight, the 5th of October, 2014! You can enter this competition once daily and it is open to anyone within Australia. Winners will be announced on this post.

Update: the winner is Tamzyn B of Victoria!

So tell me Dear Reader, is there something that you do but know that you shouldn't like a habit or food or drink that you eat or drink?

Truffled Salami and Three Cheese Calzone

Calzone dough based on Peter Reinhart's pizza dough recipe

Makes 8 calzones

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Resting time: overnight or two hours

Cooking time: 12 minutes

• 4 1/2 cups bread flour or all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon instant dried yeast
• 1/4 Cup (2 ounces/60g) Woolworths Gold extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) water, cold
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 3/4 teaspoon salt
• Olive oil spray
• 2-3 tablespoons polenta or flour extra to dust on surface
• Woolworths Gold Hand Crafted Truffle Salami, sliced thinly
• 6 cups cheese (I used a mix of tallegio, fromage frais goat's cheese and mozzarella)
• 200g/7ozs sun dried tomato strips, drained
• 1 egg mixed with 1/2 tablespoon water for egg wash

Step 1 - In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, add the flour, yeast, oil, water and sugar and on low speed knead for 5 minutes. Add the salt and knead for another minute until elastic.

Step 2 - Flour a board and line a baking tray with paper and spray with oil. Divide the dough into eight pieces and roll into eight balls. Place on the oiled, lined tray and spray balls with olive oil. Cover with cling film or a large zip lock bag or plastic bag or wrap and place in the fridge overnight. If you don't have time, place in a warm place for 1-2 hours until risen.

Step 3 - Line three baking trays with parchment. Dust a clean surface with polenta or extra flour. Flatten out each ball of dough and roll into a larger round, about 20cm/8 inches in diameter. Fill with the cheeses, salami and sun dried tomatoes. Brush a little egg wash around the edge and seal edges together. To prevent the crimped edges from being too thick, press them down to thin them and then crimp them. Place three calzones on each tray. Prick each calzone a few times with a fork (so that they don't explode their filling). Rest for 15 minutes.

Step 4 - Preheat oven to 240C/464F. Brush with egg wash and bake each tray of calzones for 12-13 minutes.