Vegetable Stromboli

Stromboli is a mixture of Italian cheeses and meats wrapped, rolled and baked inside pizza dough. It originated in 1950 just outside Philadelphia by Nazzareno Romano in his restaurant and pizzeria called Romano’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria. The name just came to be after seeing the movie starring Ingrid Bergman called Stromboli.

Stromboli is similar to other pizzeria specialties such as calzones, pepperoni rolls and sausage rolls or bread. Keeping with the same recipe format, here in Winona we made some changes to exclude the meats usual to this pastry dish to make it much healthier. Packed with vitamins and minerals providing all the goodness from vegetables our bodies need. Gives this dough wrapped dish a new twist to one that has been an old favorite for years. Changing it in this manner provides many more people to enjoy this simple recipe while getting their daily supply of vegetables and the benefits they provide.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of refrigerated pizza dough
• 8 spears of asparagus
• 1 yellow pepper sliced in strips
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon of onion powder
• ½ teaspoon of oregano
• ¼ teaspoon of salt
• ½ teaspoon of Italian seasoning
• ½ cup of cubed mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1 cup of shredded Italian blend cheese, divided
• 10 cherry tomatoes quartered

Directions:

1. Rinse all vegetables under cool water and pat dry with paper towels.

2. Mince the garlic, quarter the tomatoes and slice up the bell pepper.

3. Place the vegetables into a covered microwave dish along with the oil and spices and heat in the microwave for 5 minutes.

4. Unravel the pizza dough and place it flat on a cookie sheet.

5. Remove the vegetable dish and let cool 5-7 minutes.

6. Carefully drain all the liquid from the vegetable dish.

7. Preheat the oven to 400′.

8. Sprinkle half the cubed mozzarella and shredded Italian cheese over the pizza dough.

9. Line up the asparagus and pepper over the cheese in one direction.

10. Top the asparagus with the tomato pieces and drizzle any remaining liquid with the herbs and spices on top of the vegetables.

11. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.

12. Lift the dough from one end and roll it along with the vegetables and cheese to form a rolled loaf.

13. Be sure to tuck in the ends of the dough so none of the cheese can melt out of the dough.

14. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until dough top is golden brown in color.

15. Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

16. Transfer vegetable Stromboli to a platter and slice into 1 inch pieces at an angle.

17. Enjoy!

Suggestions:

• Add other chopped vegetables the next time this recipe is requested for dinner. Try chopped broccoli florets, shredded or julienne carrots, chopped cauliflower, green bell pepper or even string beans, peas or whole kernel corn.
• Eat alone or with a fish dinner.
• Great on the side of a bowl of tomato soup.