On the Island of Stromboli

Any time I think of making stromboli, I end up singing Wilco/Billy Bragg lyrics to the song "Ingrid Bergman"... "Let's go make a picture. On the Island of Stromboli. Ingrid Bergman." (To give credit, I hear the song was written by Woody Guthrie, but never performed until Wilco/Billy B came along.)

Making stromboli is easy and forgiving like making pizza, but more fun because you get to braid dough. Aren't you glad you practiced braiding on all your Barbies years ago? Or were you the type who preferred to cut off all their hair as a budding Sinead O'Connor fan? The idea of making stromboli was inspired by a bag of TJ's whole wheat pizza dough and Amanda's Domestic, who altered a vegan ricotta recipe from Nonna's Italian Kitchen. She found the recipe here for Ricotta di Soya and added a lil' nooch, a lil' garlic salt, and some dried basil. Delish!

Here's what you do:

Start with one batch pizza dough, or one bag from TJ's... stretch into a large rectangle .

Lay some good tomato sauce down the middle, then spread some of the ricotta down the middle. Careful not to get the sauce too close to the edges, or it'll be harder to seal.

Top with your choice veggies/toppings. We've liked sauteing some onions, bell peppers, and garlic--and topping with artichokes and sliced olives.

Braid it up per this website (ignore the gross meat... I'll try to make my own tutorial soon.)

Brush with a little soy milk, and pop in a 400 degree oven until golden brown on top

Serve with some marinara on the side

**The ricotta could be optional

***You might want to do this either on a cookie sheet, since it's hard to transfer, or on some parchment paper which could be lifted onto a baking pan. You might also benefit from something to make it not stick, like oil or a generous amount of flour/cornmeal.

****This is really good leftover and cold after you've been up all night. Highly recommended.

My next project with stromboli is to attempt making little mini personal strombolis and having a stromboli party. I've shared this idea with my friends who I call my "play group" (Kimber and Melissa,) and I think they're down as long as we've got enough red wine to wash it down.