Oodles of Strudels

[Carrot Top]

Imagine a large high-ceilinged kitchen on an old country estate, in Germany or perhaps Austria.

Someplace like that.

An enormous table sits as an island in the center of the room, but flanked by no chairs. The kitchen is warm - there are people in the room doing various tasks yet the table dominates the scene.

Here, is where the strudel is made. (If you listen carefully, you might even hear the cook practicing her yodelling for the upcoming County Fair )

Huge sheets of dough are stretched to an infinitesimal thinness to provide a cozy wrap for good things to eat. Flour flies through the air as the dough is petted and patted, teased into transparency. What will fill it? Apples, maybe. Cabbage? Cheese. . .cherries?

....................................................

It's more likely that today we will pull out a package of filo dough from the freezer to make our own strudels, or blend a batch of cream cheese pastry for yet the "other strudel".

What sorts of strudels do you make? Do you make both sweet and savory strudels? Which one is your all-time favorite?

Studel is definitely worth a yodel or two, don't you think?

[SuzySushi]

Yes, I'll admit I cheat and use filo pastry. My mother said her grandmother used to stretch the dough tissue-paper-thin by hand, on a tablecloth reserved just for that purpose.

My favorites to make:

Sweet -- apple strudel, pear and ginger strudel

Savory -- Reuben strudel, filled with corned beef, Swiss cheese, and sauerkraut

[Swisskaese]

I think this should be moved to the pastry section.

I make:

Apple strudel

Cherry strudel

Spinach and ricotta strudel

I also use phyllo, but I would like to tackle the task of making strudel dough. I married to the son of a Hungarian, so I think I must try this once. To maintain the family honor.

[Carrot Top]

It's that hint of difference, the expansion of thought that interests me in the idea of talking about both sweet and savory things in the same thread where it can be done.

My fear would be that most people think "sweet" when thinking "pastry" so that it might be a misnomer for the thread - someone might miss it?

I adore sweet strudels - my two favorites are apple (bien sur, so classic! and never out of place) and a cherry-ricotta strudel - the ricotta flavored with lemon zest , the cherries with a hint of almond extract.

Yet wow! Fantastic to hear of SuziSushi's Reuben strudel - how creative! Yum! As much as I adore sweet strudels, the savory ones can really capture my heart.

Your spinach and ricotta sounds really great, too. How do you season the spinach?

One that I make is a gingered lamb with quinoa, and it is "to die for".

Edited February 22, 2006 by Carrot Top (log)

[Rehovot]

Two other good savory ones are mushroom (good as a vegetarian Thanksgiving option) and cabbage and Gruyere.

I didn't forsee a whole lot of strudel-making in my future, and then I married a European.

[Toasted]

Some of my favorites: Gorganzola with pear (pear is first sauteed in butter with chopped shallots) cool and then roll up in filo. Cabbage and potato seasoned with sour cream and caraway seeds, Parsnip and carrot mash with shredded swiss cheese, sweet potato with toasted crushed walnuts and dried cranberries, broccoli rabe with lots of garlic and cooked, sliced vegetarian italian sausage. Sometimes I top these with seseme seeds, the gorganzola one can be drizzled with a little honey/orange juice mix. So many varieties- perfect for a vegetarian main dish.

[whisks]

my very favourite is walnut strudel. i don't have a recipe for it, but if someone does, i'd be grateful if they shared it with me. thanks.

Edited February 23, 2006 by whisks (log)

[Swisskaese]

It's that hint of difference, the expansion of thought that interests me in the idea of talking about both sweet and savory things in the same thread where it can be done.

My fear would be that most people think "sweet" when thinking "pastry" so that it might be a misnomer for the thread - someone might miss it?

I adore sweet strudels - my two favorites are apple (bien sur, so classic! and never out of place) and a cherry-ricotta strudel - the ricotta flavored with lemon zest , the cherries with a hint of almond extract.

Yet wow! Fantastic to hear of SuziSushi's Reuben strudel - how creative! Yum! As much as I adore sweet strudels, the savory ones can really capture my heart.

Your spinach and ricotta sounds really great, too. How do you season the spinach?

One that I make is a gingered lamb with quinoa, and it is "to die for". 

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I season it with salt, pepper and a generous amount of nutmeg, but I may try an experiment next time with ras al hanout. I saute the spinach with finely minced garlic.

[Swisskaese]

my very favourite is walnut strudel. i don't have a recipe for it, but if someone does, i'd be grateful if they shared it with me. thanks.

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Walnut Strudel (Diós rétes)

Strudel dough or phyllo dough

400 g ground walnuts

100 g grated apples

50 g raisins (soak in rum or tokay)

200 g sugar

50 ml milk

grated lemon rind of one lemon

Cook the ground walnuts in the sugar and the milk and bring to boil, but stir so the milk and walnuts do not burn. Let it cool, then mix with the grated apples, the drained raisins and the grated lemon. Roll up, put into greased tin, and bake at 200C for 20 minutes.

Edited February 23, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[ludja]

I grew up with typical Austrian strudels, but a many of the ideas above sound very good!

The two savory types my Mom makes are potato strudel and cabbage strudel. We eat them as a main course, a soup before, a salad with. We usually add some dollops of sour cream before rolling them up. If there are some grammeln (cracklings) to be had a few of those will go in as well. It's difficult for me to choose between the two; they are both so good.

For sweet strudels we make apple or Topfen (Quark or Farmer's cheese). I love the apple but am a sucker for the Topfen. The end product is reminiscent but different from a blintz, which I also love.

We always make the dough. My grandmother and Mom can make it in their sleep. I have made it a few times completely on my own, many times helping my Mom. This thread is a good kick in the pants to make some myself again to make sure I can still do it. Plus it would be fun to try some non-traditional fillings as well. My dining room table is not really big enough (even with the leaf added in) but I should give a try again anyway!

Thanks for the walnut strudel recipe, Swisskaese. I love that filling and have had it in other baked goods like "Nussenkipfel" (nut crescents) or in yeast-based strudel dough but I can tell it would be great here as well. For this type of filling (ground walnuts cooked in milk and sugar with lemon) it can also be nice to add some rum for additional flavoring.

The pear and ginger strudel sounds so good; I've made a good pear and ginger pie and the flavors are really exceptional.

Edited February 23, 2006 by ludja (log)

[whisks]

thank you so much for posting the recipe. i always wondered how the walnut were moist. also, i never knew there was apple in the filling. i can't wait to try it out - all i need now is an occasion!

thanks again.

[K8memphis]

I taught myself how to do de schhhtrudel dough and was so surprised it was soo easy. Had a good book, I think it's called, "The Complete Book of Pastry, Sweet and Savory --of course I cannot find it right this minute and it's either by James Beard or won a James Beard award--but I always wanted to do a picture tutorial on de sscchhtrrudel dough 'cause it's so amazing, so incredibe that that little lump of stuff will stretch across the friggin' table and have a handfull leftover. You can see the flowers in the tablecloth underneath. It's awesome schtuff!!!!!!!!!

Did we get the recipe for the spinach one???

I put cherries in my apple one

edited to say, wow de schhtrudel would be cool in a tea rom huh?!

Edited February 24, 2006 by K8memphis (log)

[alacarte]

There's a Caribbean restaurant down the block from me that has an usual tea service -- at which they include Calalloo Strudel.

(K8memphis -- I love your writing style. you crack me up!)

[ludja]

I taught myself how to do de schhhtrudel dough and was so surprised it was soo easy. ...

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This reminds me of an old TV commercial for some frozen breakfast "strudel" pastries that you were to heat and serve. They had some German/Austrian character who expresses disbelief at the concept and says, "Schhhrttoodel?? Zum Toasten???" We and my Austrian Mom would just crack up at that. It was the equivalent of the "Shake and Bake" commercial where the two kids say, "And, weeh hayelped!"...

[Swisskaese]

I also put cherries in my apple strudel.

I don't really have a recipe for the spinach strudel. But, if I had to hazard a guess....

1 cup chopped cooked spinach, moisture squeezed out

1 egg

1 cup ricotta

2 cloves of finely minced garlic

1/4 cup grated parmesan or kashkeval cheese

2 tbsp toasted pine nuts

generous amount of grated nutmeg (approx. 1/2 tbsp.)

salt and pepper

Mix all together.

Edited February 24, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

Cheese & Spinach Strudel with Warm Tomato Relish and please know that this is incredibly good! Try it and you'll see!

[heidih]

Ancient topic but my dad turns 99 on Thursday and out of the blue asked my sister and I if we remembered how to make Topfen strudel like mom who died in '83. I have made apple, including the dough, but not that hoop cheese one. I looked a bit on line and have settled on a mix of drained cottage cheese & ricotta. Raisins, sugar, cinnamon. Dough = phyllo. Some call for egg to bind which makes sense. Some call for bread crumbs too which i do not remember. Any input on filling appreciated. Mostly the assembly is where my memory fades. I know we did not do it every layer like baklava. Sugar all in filling or within layers? All experienced input welcome.

[AlaMoi]

one 'classical' approach is a quark based filling, not layered, but rolled up like typical fruit strudel.

around here finding the quark would be the major problem - many substitutes, but none are quite like quark....

 

there's several kabillion 'flavorings' for the filling - it's basically what you like / remember.