Savoury strudel

[Jubal]

I think savoury strudel is the best way I can explain this thing: I thought I'd put some instructions for making one, anyway. It's a simple pastry dish that's very easy to make with pre-rolled pastry.

Things needed: pastry, sour cream, an egg (optional), whatever you need for filling (in this case mushrooms, dill, garlic).

I started with a pastry sheet and then covered it in sour cream. I also used a bit of egg for the glaze, so I put the rest of the egg in with the sour cream too at this stage.



Next issue was filling: I went for cooking mushrooms and garlic, a very standard and good flavour combination. Unfortunately in this case my hand slipped when I was adding a small amount of dill for taste, so this one tasted a lot more of dill than I'd intended. I think you could do lots of other fillings for this, any vegetation that cooks OK should do: I've done onion and red pepper in the past, for example, which you can see at the end of this post. You could probably do a bit less pre-cooking of the filling than I did here.



Then, shock, combine the two:



Then roll it up: this is a bit finicky to ensure that the filling doesn't just fall out as you roll. The rolling up is what makes it a strudel (which is derived from an old word for whirlpool). I went for a corner to corner rolling strategy but straight on is probably just as good. Once it's all rolled up, brush the rest of the egg on. If you don't want to use egg, milk will give a bit of glaze effect, or if you don't want to use either, it doesn't actually affect it much beyond how pretty it does or does not look after cooking. A quick google suggests that vegans among you can use coconut oil or a mix of agave nectar & almond milk for a glaze, but I can't vouch for either having not tried them.



And, well, voila! The cooking at about 180 to 200 celsius takes maybe thirty or forty mins, basically keep an eye on it, longer is better to ensure the inside is properly cooked and heated as long as it doesn't burn.



Can be served hot or re-heated later, freezes well, generally good all-round utility food and a bit more interesting than yet another pasta night

[Glaurung]

It looks tasty - I'd like to try one.

For the omnivorous amongst us, I'm wondering if some sort of meat-based filling would work. If the sour cream is required, I'd probably go for bacon and onion (thinking of flammekuche toppings). Alternatively some sort of beef or other mince, probably with onion and herbs, but it doesn't feel as if that would work with sour cream.

[Jubal]

I think I'd use the sour cream if you were using bacon and onion, but probably if you're using mince you don't need it - the real point of the sour cream is, as much as anything, to keep the inside in a nice moist state, so I'd expect the meat juices to do that job. A quick google certainly suggests that mince in a strudel is very much a thing people do!