Spinach Olive Stromboli

This dish gets its name from the famous scenic Island of Stromboli in Italy. Stromboli is a folded or rolled baked Italian sandwich enclosing a filling. In this recipe, the stromboli is stuffed with fresh spinach leaves, garlic, red peepers, black olives, cheddar cheese, mozzarella chese and provolone cheese. The stromboli is finished with garlic butter and a sprinkling of poppy or sesame seeds before baking. It is servred garnished with romano cheese. A speciality of stromboli is that it is delicious when served hot or cold.

Vegetarian Italian Cooking

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Serves: 4
Cooking time (approx.): 62 minutes
Style: Italian Vegetarian

1 pound(s) bread dough fresh or frozen
1 tablespoon(s) virgin olive oil
2 teaspoon(s) finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoon(s) chopped red pepper
2 cup(s) whole spinach leaves washed well and pat dried
½ cup(s) feta cheese crumbled
½ cup(s) black olive slices
2 slice(s) cheddar cheese
2 slice(s) provolone cheese
2 slice(s) mozzarella cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
melted garlic butter to glaze
poppy or sesame seeds to sprinkle on top

If using frozen bread dough, thaw the dough before use.
To prepare the filling, heat the olive oil in a pan. Saute the garlic and red pepper for about 2 minutes or till the raw smell of the garlic is gone. Let cool.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough into a 12"x10" rectangle. Arrange the whole spinach leaves down the center of the rectangle to form a bed leaving enough borders of dough around it for folding. Spoon the sauteed garlic and red peppers along with the olive oil on the bed of spinach. Top with feta cheese. Sprinkle the olive slices. Finally arrange the cheese slices on top overlapping each other. Cover the filling bringing one long side of the dough border into the center. Overlap with the other long side to cover well. Pinch the seam to seal well and tuck the ends under. Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover with a cloth and keep at room temperature in a warm place for about 30 minutes or till it rises.
Make long diagnol slashes about 1/2" deep on the top of the loaf at an interval of every 3" or so. Brush with melted garlic butter. Sprinkle poppy or sesame seeds. Bake in a preheated oven at 200^oC / 400^oF for about 30 minutes or till golden brown and sounds hollow when thumped. Cool slightly and slice along the slashes.
For cold stromboli, Cool it completely on a wire rack. Wrap and refrigerate. Slice when serving.

TIPS:
For fresh dough stromboli, use 1 recipe of pizza dough and roll the filled stromboli like a jelly roll instead of folding.
The stromboli can be filled with just about any filling of your choice.
Melted butter can be used in place of garlic butter to glaze the stromboli before baking.
Romano cheese can be replaced by any other cheese of your choice for garnishing the stromboli.
Stromboli can be served as is or with any sauce of your choice.

Serve hot topped with: grated romano cheese and sauce

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