Over-Stuffed Meat Lovers Monster Stromboli
October 24th, 2007 | 
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I love this town. I love it for so many reasons, too many, I won’t even get into cause I might not be able to stop. But one of the reasons is food, baby. Philly is hometown to so many foods, it’s just crazy. Probably first that comes up on everyone’s list is the Philly Cheesesteak. If not that, it’s the Hoagie. Whats a hoagie? Ever have something called a “sub” or submarine? Ever have something called a “hero” or hero sandwhich? Well, if so, they are just pale, lack-luster imitations of a hoagie.
What else? There’s the Philly pretzel. Much superior to those things they burn in NYC and call pretzels. There’s scrapple, a mysterious and wonderful substance — sorta like haggis, not in taste, in mystery — that is a wonderful alternative to bacon, ham and sausage as a breakfast meat to go along with your eggs. And then, to my surprise, there’s the stromboli.
To my surprise? Well I’ve known strombolis ever since I was little. The local pizza shop or steak shop always had them along with the calzones. Wasn’t actually until just a few days ago when I looked up in various food encyclopedias on the web — Epicurious’s is my favorite by the way. And I was wondering just what was technically considered the difference between a calzone and a stromboli.
According to the Epicurious-Barron’s database: “Originating in Naples, calzone is a stuffed pizza that resembles a large turnover. It is usually made as an individual serving. The fillings can be various meats, vegetables or cheese; mozzarella is the cheese used most frequently. Calzones can be deep-fried or brushed with olive oil and baked.” Whereas a stromboli is “a specialty of Philadelphia, a stromboli is a calzone-like enclosed sandwich of cheese (usually mozzarella) and pepperoni (or other meat) wrapped in pizza dough.”
So, a stromboli, yet another food originating here in Philly, is something akin to (but not) an inside-out pizza, a loaf of Italian bread that’s stuffed, a giant non-fried calzone, the world’s biggest “hot pocket” (except it tastes 100 times better). Let’s face it, these are just comparisions. A stromboli is what it is — a stromboli. And it’s delicious!
Now, as said this here is not your average stromboli. (Oddly, now that I’ve made the monster one, I’ll have to make a “normal” one to show you in the near future.) This is brimming with pounds of delicious meats, plus a substantial amount of savory veggies too. Some believe that where calzones were made to be eaten by hand, that strombolis were too. Personally, I have never (even with the normal ones you get from the shops) believed that. When you slice it you have two open ends, what a slop that would make eating by hand. So I’ve always used the knife and fork. And with this particular one, heavy-weighted, jam-packed “big guy”, manly-sized log, that is the only way to eat it.
Needless to say, this is one puppy you definitely want to make for a tailgating party, or bowling night, or on the big game day to feed a bunch of big hungry guys. The loaf ended up being 17 inches long, 6 to 7 inches wide and an inch to an inch and a half thick and even weighed (I’m guessing here) a good five to seven pounds. Tell me this isn’t going to be the hit of the party?! You know it!
When slicing a serving, figure rbout an inch width; perhaps an inch and a half or even up to two for a jumbo slice. This is going to make anywhere from 10 to 16 servings. If you figure in the price of the ingredients, and what the same amount of food would cost at the pizza joint, this is even a pretty sweet budget saving meal to boot. Oh, and just cause it is party food, doesn’t mean it’s not dinner or lunch. I didn’t make this for a party but for “dinner with lots of leftovers”, the kind I can reheat for a couple more dinners or as a few more hot lunches later in the week.
One last item here, before we hit the recipe. There’s also two schools of thought with those who make strombolis. (Geez, aren’t there always at least two schools of thought with food?) One is, you put some of the sauce inside; other’s say no, it leaks, it’s too messy; no sauce inside the stromboli itself, instead have some spaghetti sauce or marinara on the side for dipping. Me? I figure why does is it always have to be one way or the other — both ways together works! You need some of that inside, and hey, offer some to dip too to accomodate people’s taste.
Ok, get yourself plenty of napkins, grab a cold one to “go along” outta da fridge, dig in, and enjoy!
Over-Stuffed Meat Lovers Monster Stromboli
©2007 Harry Kenneyingredients:
3/4 lb sweet Italian sausage, cut open from casing
3/4 lb hot Italian sausage, cut open from casing
1/2 lb thinly sliced pepperonis
4-5 slices of frozen sandwich steak, chopped3 green (or red or mixed) bell peppers, cut to chunks
1-2 medium yellow onions, cut to chunks
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1/2 pound baby portebellos (or any mushrooms) choppedone portion of pizza dough (enough to make one large pizza pie)
12 oz marinara or spaghetti sauce
6 oz shredded mozerella or mixed Italian cheesesgrated parmagena
salt
pepper
garlic powder
oreganoTake one serving of pizza dough, roll and knead out into a rough rectangle about 18 inches long and 8-10 inches wide and place inside baking sheet. Add oregano and grated parmagena to dough and press in with palm of hand. Lightly add shredded cheese all around and do same with hand again, pressing in slightly
In one very large pan, bring up to medium-high with very little oil, add half of sliced garlic, put in the pepperonis and brown. These have ton of oil. After turning constantly a few minutes, dump the oil, place pepperonis on a plate with paper towels and let sit, getting off the excess oil. Add sausage mixture into this pan and start to brown, lightly salt and pepper only as these are already well seasoned.
In a second smaller skillet, add oil, remaining sliced garlic, and put on medium-low and add the peppers. Remember you’re browning the meat, but you’re going to be sweating (not browning) the veggies. As peppers start to soften slightly add onions and mushrooms. You want all the ingredients to soften, stir constantly. Add some seasonings including some oregano.
In meat skillet, make some room in the pan and add the crumbled steak, season and brown. When everything nearly done in the meat skillet, put the pepperoni back in, mix everything up and add about 4 oz of marinara or spaghetti sauce and incorporate well.
Now to layer. Take handfuls of shredded cheese and thickly make a line down the center, about six inches or so wide. Take meat and spoon out down the middle of the dough, forming a line from near top to bottom, should end up being four to six inches wide and maybe half inch or so high. Now, do the same with the veggies, right on top, form a line top to bottom, should end up being roughly two to three inches wide. Take your sauce and add a thick bead, no more than an inch wide again down the length, atop the veggies.
Fold one side up across the top, then the other side, gently prodding as needed to make oval loaf. Fold the two ends up neatly as possible. Score slits in top of dough width-wise roughly four or five inches in length and spaced and inch-and-a-half or two down entire length. Take grated parmagena and liberally sprinkle atop the entire loaf. Now drizzle some olive oil across top. This will add flavor and aid in browning. Place the baking sheet into a preheated 400°F for about 35 minutes. When nice and brown, and you see the liquids inside boiling through some of the slits, you’re done.
Let sit on sheet at least 15 minutes before serving. Optionally take some of the sauce and add to a bowl for additonal dipping. Serve with knife and fork and plenty of napkins. Servings 10-16. Beverage of choice, beer of course, but works with anything.
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That looks like a great recipe. Thanks.