Garden Vegetable Strudel Recipe From Scratch

Filo or filo pastry (Greek Pastry) is a dough of paper-thin sheets of unleavened flour dough separated by a thin film of butter.Filo/Phyllo dough is made with flour, water, and a small amount of oil and rakı or white vinegar. They are used with various fillings and today I am here with Vegetarian Filling. Initially I thought of making the sheets at home, Homemade filo takes time and requires progressive rolling and stretching to a single thin and very large sheet  with continual flouring between layers to prevent tearing, so I went for store bought sheets…

Long time back I baked this strudel for International Food Challenge. I am not satisfied with the pictures so thought of making again before publishing it, but I never get a chance to make this vegetable strudels again so posting it with my very first attempt.Thanks Briju, Saras and Shoba for the recipe suggestion…The Filo dough are very thin sheets(Pic 1, in stepwise pictures) and while separating they break easily, so handle very carefully while working with these sheets…To keep the sheets moist as you’re working with them, cover the unbuttered stack with plastic wrap. Slashing the top of the strudel before baking allows steam to escape and ensures a crisp result…

Makes 6-8 side-dish servings
Recipe Source: Recipe File

Ingredients ( Vegetable and Spices can be adjusted to need)

Green Beans or Yellow Wax Beans – 6 ounces (1 Cup), trimmed and cut into 3/4 inch lengths
Olive oil or Vegetable Oil – 2 Tbsp
Mushrooms, quartered – 8 ounces (I altered with Potato)
Turnips or Rutabagas (10 ounces) – 2 cups peeled and finely chopped (Replace with Cabbage)
Carrots or Parsnips (2 medium) – 1 Cup, chopped and peeled
Red, Yellow, or Green Sweet Pepper – 1 large, cut into thin strips
1/2 Cup sliced Onions or leeks or 1/4 cup minced shallots
Shredded Swiss, Monterey jack, or Mozzarella cheese (4 ounces) – 1 Cup (I used 1/2 Cup)
Minced Fresh Basil  – 1 Tbsp or 1tsp dried basil, crushed
Minced fresh Sage – 2tsp or 1/2 teaspoon ground sage (Optional)
Salt – 1/2tsp
Pepper – 1/4 tsp
Frozen phyllo dough (about 18×14-inch rectangles), thawed – 6 Sheets
Margarine or butter – 2 Tbsp, melted
Parmesan or Romano cheese – 1 Tbsp (Optional)

Method

• I used pressure cooker to cook beans and potato otherwise cook covered in a small amount of boiling salted water for 10 to 12 minutes, or till tender. Drain the cooked stuff.
• In a wide pan or skillet heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil first add onion saute till it changes light golden brown..
• Then add cabbage or turnips or rutabagas, carrots or parsnips, sweet pepper, leeks, or shallots and cook for 5-7 minutes, or till vegetables are crisp-tender.
• Remove from heat, stir in already cooked beans, potato or mushrooms, shredded cheese, basil, sage, salt, and pepper (Pic 2, Inner Picture).
• Preheat the oven 200 F.
• Meantime prepare strudel by placing 1 sheet of phyllo dough on a flat surface, brush with some of the melted margarine or butter (Pic 2).
• Top with a second piece of phyllo and brush with melted margarine or butter.
• Repeat remaining phyllo sheets and melted margarine or butter.
• Spoon vegetable mixture lengthwise down the center of phyllo, spreading it to within 1 inch of edges (
  Pic 3).
• Fold in short edges about 1 inch (Pic 4); roll dough from long side, jelly-roll style.
• Place roll, seam-side down, in a 15x10x1-inch jelly-roll pan (Pic 5).
• Brush roll with remaining melted butter; sprinkle with grated Parmesan or romano cheese (Pic 5).

• With a sharp knife, cut 5-7 evenly spaced diagonal slashes on top of roll (Pic 5).
• Bake in a preheated oven at 375° for 20-25 minutes, or till golden brown (Pic 6). Let stand for 5 minutes. Cut through slashes to make 6-8 slices.