“You know…, you never made Stromboli…”
“What? Never? Com’on! I made the pig in a blanket many times…”
“Can’t believe you are counting that for Stromboli!”
“It’s same concept, isn’t it?”
“?????”
This was the first conversation my husband and I had on the morning of our 17th wedding anniversary day. My husband’s absolute favorite food is the Stromboli, and guess what? With 17 years of marriage, I have never made his favorite food. Never…!
I have been making every food on the planet, everything EXCEPT Stromboli.
All these years I have been busy perfecting my Kimchi recipes or searching and trying out far-far-away exotic foods, but making Stromboli (which is NOT my favorite) didn’t quite fell into my ever *must try* recipe list.
Stromboli is not difficult to make at all. If you know how to make the *pig in a blanket*, which basically is a hotdog wrapped in a bread dough, you can easily make this without much fuss. The only problem I encountered was that it was hard to find the various cured Italian pork in the middle of tropical land where pork product is considered “non-Halal”.
Typical meat choices are salami, ham and pepperoni. Some likes to add sausage, sauteed peppers and onions on top but I like to stick with “meat & cheese only” request from my protein loving husband. I had to make fresh pizza dough for my Stromboli, but a store bought frozen pizza dough would be a great choice as well.
Take a look how easily I put them all together even with a braided look on the outside. Fancy-schmancy!
First, roll out your pizza dough about 11″x13″ or so. No need to be exact.
Using your rolling pin, transfer the dough on to a baking pan.
Layer your choice of meats in the center. I used ham and salami, couldn’t find the pepperonis, so my Stromboli will be pepperoni-less… 🙁
Layer cheese (provolone and mozzarella) on top and place a few basil leaves. It is my duty to feed my family “vegetable”.
I added some Swiss cheese since I had a few slices on hand.
Cut each side of pizza dough to make 1″ strips with a knife or a pair of scissor.
Fold the top end first, then bring the strips from each side to make criss-cross pattern one strip at a time.
When it comes to the other end, fold the end and finish the final 1-2 last strips to secure.
Kind of like that… I found braiding is so amusing that I want to braid everything from now on.
Drizzle a little EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and sprinkle oregano. Bake in hot oven (400F) for about 15 minutes or until it forms nice golden brown crust. (My pizza dough has semolina flour in it, which helps create beautiful golden crust without any egg wash.)
DO NOT forget to serve the Stromboli with warm marinara sauce to dip in.
My poor husband who’s been putting up with me for 17 years (and willing to do whole lot longer through eternity) really enjoyed this Stromboli for lunch.
We had a nice dinner at Mandarin Oriental Hotel that night to celebrate our marriage.
As I was staring at the braiding work on my Stromboli, a thought came to my mind.
‘A strong marriage is like this braiding work. Its intertwined cooperation and commitment will support each other to keep everything safe inside.’
What a profound wisdom coming out from just looking at a piece of Stromboli?
See…? Food is not just food. It can give you valuable life lessons. Don’t you agree?
I better start lecturing my kids to learn their lesson by staring at tomorrow’s dinner, the chicken! 🙂
Buon Appetito!
Ingredients
- a large size pizza dough
- 8-10 slices ham
- 8-10 slices salami
- 8-10 slices pepperoni
- 4-6 slices provolone cheese
- 4-6 slices mozzarella cheese
- 8-10 basil leaves
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- marinara sauce to dip in
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF
- Roll out a pizza dough to form a thin rectangular crust, about 11"x13", and place the crust on a baking pan lined with a parchment paper.
- Layer slices of ham, salami, and pepperoni as a single row in the center of crust. Layer cheeses over meats and place basil leaves on top.
- Using a knife or a pair of scissor, cut either sides of crust next to the meat & cheese filling to make several 1" wide strips. Fold-in the each end part of the crust toward the filling. Using one strip at a time criss-cross each strip to cover the filling.
- Drizzle olive oil over the crust and sprinkle oregano.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the crust turns golden brown.
- Cool down a little and slice
- Serve hot with warm marinara sauce to dip in.
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