Chef Riccardo's Taste of the Garden: Vegetable Strudel

Chef Riccardo's back with a fragrant and tasty veggie strudel for the end of winter. Vegetable strudel is surprisingly easy to make and is a great dish to take to a party or potluck. Here's how:

Ingredients
1 eggplant  (about 380 gm), peeled and cubed
1 medium carrot, grated
1 zucchini (about 150 gm), chopped coarsely
Sweet red peppers (about 200 gm), chopped
1 small onion, chopped  
½ c chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained thoroughly
10 white mushrooms, sliced
a handful of cherry or grape tomatoes
1 slice fresh ginger

1 box of frozen puff pastry (in a rectangular sheet, not cups), or filo/phyllo dough, thawed.

Saute’ the onion and ginger in the olive oil in a large shallow pan for a few minutes.  Add the vegetables and saute’ for 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, remove the ginger slice, then transfer the vegetables to a plate and let them cool.

Line a baking pan with baking parchment, or grease well, and place the pastry rectangle on it. Add the filling to the center section and roll up into a cylinder. Make about 5 cuts in the top so steam can escape, and seal the ends of the cylinder.

Bake the strudel at 200 degrees C, or 400F for 30-35 minutes or until the strudel is well browned. Remove from oven, let cool, cut into slices and serve warm or cold.

Note: Fresh seasonal veggies can be substituted for any of the above veggies, in equal quantity.
½ c. cubes of soft cheese like Monterey Jack can be added to the filling when you roll up the strudel.

Happy Cooking!

Chef Riccardo