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Christmas Savoury Strudel

A tomato and mushroom filling baked in filo pastry.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Christmas Savoury Strudel

Oven200 °C (400 °F, gas mark 6)
Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Heat the olive oil in a fairly large saucepan, add the onions and cook them with the lid on for about 10 minutes, until they are tender but not browned.

  2. Add the garlic, the tomatoes together with their liquid, the basil and the wine.

  3. Let the mixture simmer gently without a lid, stirring from time to time, until the liquid has disappeared and it is quite thick – this will take about 20 minutes.

  4. Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes or so, or until the mushrooms are tender and any liquid they make has boiled away.

  5. Remove from the heat and season to taste.

  6. Cool the filling and assemble the strudel directly onto a large baking sheet.

  7. Set the oven to 200 °C (400 °F, gas mark 6).

Assemble the strudel

  1. If you have long, narrow filo pastry sheets about 30 × 20 cm, lay two sheets side by side, overlapping them slightly where they join.

  2. If you have large square sheets about 30 cm, lay out one sheet.

  3. Brush the surface with a little melted butter and sprinkle with a third of the nuts.

  4. Put another layer of filo pastry on top, brush with butter, and scatter with nuts.

  5. Repeat with another layer, then a final layer of filo pastry, brushing it with butter.

  6. Tip the tomato filling mixture on top and spread it to about 2.5 cm (1 inch) of the edges.

  7. Fold the edges over to enclose the filling, then starting from one of the widest edges, roll the whole thing up like a Swiss roll, trying not to let it break.

  8. Brush with melted butter and garnish with some shreds or shapes of filo pastry.

Bake and serve

  1. Put the strudel into the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

  2. Transfer carefully to a serving dish with the aid of two fish slices.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

521Calories
11 gProtein
41 gFat
30 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 13 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cashew1 oz (28g / ~18 nuts)157
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Pastrynot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Tomato + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Filo pastry
Forms the crisp, flaky layers that enclose the filling and brown in the oven.
Butter
Coats each filo layer, helping it crisp and turn golden as it bakes.
Canned tomatoes
Provide the main body and acidity of the filling once reduced until thick.
Onions
Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding savoury depth to the filling.
Mushrooms
Add savoury, meaty flavour and bulk to the filling.
Roasted cashew nuts
Add crunch and richness between the filo layers.

The step that matters

Reducing the tomato filling until thick. If the liquid is not cooked off, the filling releases moisture into the filo during baking, making the pastry soggy and causing the roll to break. Simmering uncovered until the liquid has gone keeps the layers crisp.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, garlic, tomato, basil, red wine, mushroom, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Eggplantfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, garlic, tomato, basil, red wine, mushroom, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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