It’s almost Valentine’s Day. This year, Valentine’s Day landed on a Friday. It’s been a few years since Kevin and I celebrated Valentine’s Day on the actual day itself. Most years, when Valentine’s Day is a random weekday, we just have a simple dinner before heading to sleep. Some years, we may not even have dessert (depending on how tired we are after work). On the chance Valentine’s Day lands on a Friday or a weekend, I take the extra effort to create a home cooked meal from scratch. I’ve been brainstorming ideas for Valentine’s Day dinner all week. Kevin only had one request for the Valentine’s Day dinner menu this year – he wanted the meal to feature tons of meat. I prefer a meal filled with my favorite carbs instead. To make sure we both get what we want, why not marry the two and have pizza and Stromboli? This week, I’ve been craving pizza (yet again). Pizza is a dish I had with my family every Friday growing up. My dad or mom would pick up a large pie on their way home from work. The local pizzeria near my childhood home in Brooklyn had the best thin pies. No matter how many times we ordered pizza there, I just couldn’t get enough. Pizza was all I craved. Sometimes, I would also order a side of garlic knots with marinara sauce to supplement my meal. Occasionally, I would opt for another stuffed carb goodness – a Stromboli. Most versions of Stromboli I’ve had at pizzerias throughout New York City typically featured a ton of cheese and a variety of meat and vegetable fillings. When I say a ton of cheese, I mean mouthful of cheese and cheese pull with every bite. While I love cheese, I do prefer less cheese in my Stromboli. I love the swirls of cheese and meats within a Stromboli. I guess I love the Stromboli because it combines everything I love about a sandwich and a pizza. One of the first dates Kevin and I went on when we first started dating in college was to a Cottage Inn in Ann Arbor. Kevin made a reservation ahead of time, waited for me after class, and walked with me over to dinner at Cottage Inn. We were broke college students back then and only ordered a salad, pizza, and breadsticks. Yet, the meal stilled turned out absolutely amazing. Kevin and I enjoyed the meal slowly while we shared stories about our childhood. Kevin grew up in Hong Kong and shared many stories about his life in the city. I grew up in New York and filled him in on the experiences I had growing up in Brooklyn. We spent the night chatting and laughing while enjoying great food. I wanted to recreate the moment we had by preparing a large heart shaped pizza topped with pepperoni, mushrooms, fresh basil, and arugula. I prepared extra pizza dough and reserved some to make a Stromboli filled with mozzarella, salami, pepperoni, and Italian seasoning (including a side of marinara sauce to serve alongside the Stromboli). To round out the rest of the meal, I made some milk tea shakes inspired by the milk tea shake I had at a Shake Shack in Hong Kong. I didn’t initially plan on eating at Shake Shack in Hong Kong since I could get Shake Shack in New York, but when I saw the Hong Kong exclusive milk tea shake when I causally strolled by the Shake Shack in PP, I just had to try one. The milk tea shake was perfect. It had strong brewed black tea blended into a vanilla milkshake. I couldn’t believe I never thought of a milk tea shake before. The milk tea shake served as the dessert to end our carb loaded meal.
For the Stromboli with marinara sauce:
For the dough:
· 2½ cups double zero flour, plus additional for kneading the dough
· ½ teaspoon active dry yeast
· 1 teaspoon kosher salt
· 1 teaspoon fine sugar
· ¾-1 cup water
· 2 teaspoons olive oil
· 1 tablespoon olive oil
For the rest of the Stromboli:
· 2-3 thin slices of mozzarella cheese
· 6 thin slices of salami
· 6 thin slices of pepperoni
· ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning, plus additional for topping Stromboli, if desired
· ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, plus additional for topping Stromboli, if desired
· 1 large egg
· 1 tablespoon water
· marinara sauce, for serving
Directions:
1) Prepare the dough the evening before. In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Stir to combine all ingredients. Gradually add in ¾ cup of water to the mixture. Begin kneading the dough. Gradually add more water if needed. Add the two teaspoons of olive oil. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes directly in the large bowl or on a lightly floured surface. Drizzle the tablespoon of olive oil in the large bowl. Coat the dough in the olive oil and let the dough rest in the bowl. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the bowl. Let the dough rise undisturbed overnight.
2) In the morning, preheat oven to 500°F with a pizza stone placed on the center rack. Place a sheet of parchment paper over a pizza peel. Set aside. Divide the dough in half. Reshape both halves into a ball. Place one of the balls of dough onto a lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a large flat rectangle. The thickness of the dough should resemble a thin crust pizza.
3) Layer a row of mozzarella cheese, a row of salami, and a row of pepperoni on one side of the longer side of the rectangle. The mozzarella cheese, salami, and pepperoni should overlap one another and should only fill up about ½ of the dough. Sprinkle on the Italian seasoning and freshly cracked black pepper. Begin rolling the Stromboli on the side with the cheese, salami, and pepperoni until you form a 1.5 to 2-inch-thick log. Place the Stromboli with seam side down onto the parchment lined pizza peel.
4) Prepare the egg wash by whisking together the large egg and water. Brush the egg wash generously over the Stromboli. If desired, top with additional Italian seasoning and freshly cracked black pepper. Use the pizza peel to transfer the Stromboli and parchment paper directly onto the pizza stone in the oven. Bake the Stromboli for 13-15 minutes, until the exterior develops a deep golden brown.
5) Remove the Stromboli from the oven once done. Slice the Stromboli into about 1-inch wide pieces. Serve the Stromboli with a side of marinara sauce.
Takeaways: The Stromboli is a very versatile dish. You can fill the Stromboli with meats and vegetables of your choice. Some of my other favorite combinations include pepperoni and mushroom, and pepperoni and peppers. The trick is to slice the fillings as thin as possible for easy rolling.