Leftover Corner: Sauce to Stromboli

One of the easiest ways to make a meal appear out of thin air is to creatively use leftovers. As a cook, I love to cheat. I have no qualms about taking something already prepared (usually by my mother), adding a few ingredients, and making an entirely new dinner. I imagine that one day I'll be repurposing myown leftovers, but for the time being, it makes perfect sense to use whatever I can get my hands on. In that spirit, I'm proud to introduce a new segment (thread? theme?) on The B.A. Gourmet: Leftover Corner!

You don't have to eat spaghetti and meatballs three nights in a row just because you have a big pot of sauce in your fridge. With a little dough, you can easily turn that into strombolis! For those who haven't been fortunate enough to have a background in fine Italian eatables, a stromboli is similar to a calzone, kind of an Italian turnover - a rolled, hot sandwich.

Ingredients:

1 Pot of Leftover Sauce and Meatballs

2 Packages of Pre-made Pizza Dough

Grated Mozzerella Cheese

Sliced Pepperoni

Sliced Olives

Steps/Analysis:

You'll want to lay everything out ahead of time. The fewer moves you make, the better your strombolis will hold up. Find some counter space and dust it with flour. Next to that area, you'll want to lay out a baking sheet or pizza stone.

Unwrap your first package of pizza dough and flour up your hands and a rolling pin. Starting in the center of the dough, roll outward. Rotate the dough as necessary; you're aiming for a long, roughly rectangular shape.

I decided to make one pepperoni and one meatball stromboli, but you could take the same basic idea and make limitless versions and combinations.

For the first stromboli, ladle on a layer of sauce and then sprinkle on a generous amount cheese. Put a layer of pepperoni and olive slices on top of that. At this point, tuck in the ends and roll the stromboli. Smooth down the seam as well as you can and then place that side down on your sheet or stone.

The construction of the meatball stromboli is very similar. Instead of pepperoni, cut up as many meatballs as you need to fill your roll. I prefer to add the cheese on top of the meatballs, instead of between them and the sauce; that seems to hold everything together better.

Make sure each stromboli has enough room to expand and leak a little (it's inevitable) and place them in a 350 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Serving:

Let the strombolis sit around for a few minutes before eating. The insides need to settle down and stabilize. Otherwise, they'll run out in a lava flow when you cut the strombolis into manageable pieces.

As long as you're careful assembling everything, it's very difficult to go wrong with this recipe.