Delightful as a warm appetizer or as a light vegetarian entrée, this strudel is easy and simple to make and yet it makes a great impression. It can be made with different kinds of vegetables but the combination I recommend in this recipe is particularly delicate and appropriate for spring.
Ingredients:
(serves 4) Sp V
- 1 sheet of puff pastry (about 1 lb.)
- 5 organic carrots
- 1/8 lb. green beans
- 1 cup of shelled green peas
- ¼ of a small yellow onion
- ½ Tbsp. butter
- 1 Tbsp. Evoo
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp. parsley, chopped
- Salt
For the bechamel sauce:
- 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese, grated
- Salt
- Pepper
- A pinch of nutmeg
Thaw the puff pastry in advance at room temperature.
Peel and wash the carrots, cut then in four lengthwise and boil them or steam for ten minutes.
Wash and trim the green beans and boil or steam them for ten minutes.
Shell the green peas, chop the onion finely, melt the butter together with the Evoo in a pan, and sauté the onion until golden. Add the green peas, sauté for a couple of minutes, stirring, add salt and chopped parsley, and cook for ten minutes, covered.
When the green beans and carrots are cooked, add them to the peas, and sauté the three vegetables together for 3 minutes, stirring.
Make the béchamel sauce.
Warm up the milk in a saucepan.
Melt the butter in another saucepan. Add the flour a little at a time, constantly stirring, and cook for a few minutes making sure that mixture remains a nice yellow color and doesn’t turn brown.
Add the hot milk a little at a time, stirring fast, and without forming any lumps.
Add salt and pepper, the nutmeg and cook for 10 minutes, always stirring.
Let the sauce cool down for ten minutes and add the grated Parmesan cheese to it.
Preheat the oven at 380 F.
On a sheet of floured waxed paper, roll the puff pastry as evenly as possible with a rolling pin, making a 12” x 16” rectangle.
Spread half of the bechamel sauce on the puff pastry, leaving a 1-inch border on both sides (left and right), a 2-inch border on the bottom and a 4-inch border on top.
Spread the vegetables over the bechamel sauce, aligning the carrots and the green beans parallel to the longer side of the rectangle.
Cover the vegetables with the remaing bechamel sauce.
Fold the side borders over the filling first. With a small brush, wet this folded borders with water. By doing this, when you form the strudel the wet dough will adhere to the rest of the dough, preventing the filling from spilling out.
Shape the strudel by folding the narrow 2-inch bottom border over the filling, wet the inside of the wide top border with the brush and fold it over to close the strudel. Seal all the seams by pressing gently with your fingertips.
Carefully transfer the strudel on a baking pan. The waxed paper on which you have rolled the puff pastry should help you move it without breaking it.
Mix with the egg yolk with a little bit of milk and brush the surface of the strudel with this mixture.
Cook at 380 F for 15 minutes, than lower the temperature to 360 F and cook for 25 to 30 more minutes or until the puff pastry becomes a nice golden color.
Let the strudel cool down for a few minutes and serve warm.