Who says strudel has to be sweet?
Combine about two cups' worth of cooked seafood and/or vegetables, seasoning, cheese and binders, wrap the mixture in any one of a variety of doughs and put it in a 400 degree oven. About 20 minutes later, voila!, you have a fabulously complex main course pastry that needs only a leafy salad and a glass of wine to make an elegant, balanced meal for four. Better yet, make two: it takes no extra time to double the filling and only about three extra minutes to roll out the second sheet of dough. Put that in the freezer, and the next time Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice drop by unannounced, you've got six generous appetizer servings ready to go--just bake it a little longer. These are great hot out of the oven or later at room temperature.
I made a pair of shrimp strudels on Saturday: we were invited to a friend's home for dinner, and I was asked to bring an appetizer. It came out of the oven seconds before we walked out the door, plated on a long, white rectangular platter bedded with arugula, and arrived at our destination a few blocks away warm, steamy and aromatic.
Once you master the basic proportions, you can customize a world of ingredients to suit any occasion. During crab season I make a version with crab and artichoke. On Saturday, I made shrimp because that's what I had in the freezer, and I chose seasonings that would capture a shrimp scampi kind of flavor. It seemed kind of right for a dish that was going to precede a classy but traditional steak and baked potato dinner--you know, kind of surf and turf (with the surf thankfully segregated to its own course--no wine matching problems!) I also used puffed pastry because, again, that's what I had in the freezer, but phyllo and even a classic pie dough would work wonderfully well, too.
Here's the recipe:
1 1/2 c shrimp, cooked and squeezed dry, then coarsely chopped
1 c grated parmesan reggiano
1/2 c mayonnaise or sour cream
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 fat pinches dried thyme
1 tblsp finely chopped parsley
2 eggs, one for the filling and the other for a wash
1 sheet puff pastry
Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine the first six ingredients and 1 of the eggs. Roll the pastry out to a rectangle about nine inches wide and about 16 inches long. Spread the filling lengthwise in a strip about 4 x 14, starting about one inch from the left edge. Paint the exposed dough surfaces with egg wash. Fold the 1" strip up and lean against the filling, then pull the large piece of dough from the right over the top and tuck under. Press the top and bottom edges closed with a fork and trip down to about hlaf an inch, and fold that tab under, too. Add a teaspoon of milk to the remaining egg and paint the top of the dough. Place the strudel on parchment or a Silpat, and bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.