The Pepperoni Python – Pepperoni Stromboli
My friends Kathleen and Matt love to eat. Call them foodies or gourmands, they know how to enjoy a good meal and are partial to a nice bottle of wine. And they always want to share the food they eat and create with others. Hence their oyster shindigs. On a festive afternoon, they invite everyone they know and serve oysters in abundance, as many as you can eat. Fresh and ice cold on the half shell with cocktail sauce or mignonette; grilled until the shell pops open, barely steamed in their own juices, with shallots, peppers, and bacon; broiled with mustard butter; and a take on Oysters Rockefeller with breadcrumbs and spinach that perfectly compliment the briny oysters. There is never just one variety; they want you to taste and compare types of oysters grown in different locations.
For those who are not fans of marine bivalves, Kathleen and Matt supply enough non-seafood morsels to fill anyone’s belly, and guests always bring food to share.
It was at the most recent oyster shindig, between slurps of freshly shucked Blue Points, that I was tempted by the “Pepperoni Python,” which is Matt’s affectionate name for a delicious stromboli that Kathleen bakes up and serves with a side of tangy tomato sauce for dipping. It’s salty from ham and melted mozzarella, red grease dripping from hot pepperoni, rolled tight in pizza dough and baked to a perfect crunch with a dusting of Parmesan cheese and sesame seeds on top. The “Pepperoni Python” is the perfect party food.
Kathleen is always baking, but she tends towards sweet rather than savory. She gets her recipes from all over. She has taken dessert baking classes from Christina Tosi of Milk Bar fame and often develops recipes for her own spectacular sweets – Rice Pudding Pie with a Churro Crust and Brûléed Top, for example. So a stromboli seemed a bit of a departure from her normal baked goods to me, and I assumed she had purchased it at a local pizza joint.
After I tasted the stromboli, I knew it was a dish I also wanted to serve guests and I asked where she got it. When she told me she made it herself, I inquired about the recipe, not sure if Kathleen had come up with it on her own, found it online, gotten it from a friend, or learned it during some obscure pizza-making class she had taken at some point in her past. It turns out the recipe was from a trusted source from whom she commonly gets recipes…her chiropractor.
When she told me, I wasn’t surprised. She frequently talks about getting recipes from her chiropractor. But I can’t tell whether she really has back problems or she schedules an appointment when she can’t figure out what to cook for dinner.
Fortunately, Kathleen shared the recipe with me, and it’s fairly straightforward, especially when you purchase rather than make your own pizza dough. A bit rich when it’s the main course, it is perfect to share with a gathering of friends when there’s other finger food to nosh on, especially platters piled high with raw oysters on the half shell ready for slurping.
Pepperoni Stromboli
This recipe for stromboli, modified from a recipe I got from my friend Kathleen via her chiropractor, with its classic combination of pepperoni, ham, and mozzarella cheese, is great. But the list of alternative fillings is virtually endless: Italian hoagie stromboli with capicola, salami, pepperoni, provolone, and hot peppers; pesto and fresh mozzarella; chicken cutlet parmigiana; sausage, peppers, and onions; broccoli rabe, chicken cutlet, and provolone with spicy banana peppers; Cubano, with roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard; broccoli rabe with sausage and cherry peppers. All would be delicious. But don’t let this list limit you. Use whatever ingredients and combinations you like; let your imagination go wild.
3 hours total, about 20 minutes active, serves 4 as a main course or about 10 as a finger food at a party
For the stromboli:
1 pizza dough, about 1 lb.
½ lb. thinly sliced deli pepperoni
½ lb. thinly sliced deli ham
½ lb. thinly sliced deli mozzarella cheese
1 egg
½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. black and/or white sesame seeds
For the tomato sauce:
1-28 oz. can good quality San Marzano or San Marzano-style whole peeled tomatoes, drained
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, pressed or very finely minced
½ tsp. kosher salt
- Roll out the pizza dough into a rectangle, about 18 by 13 inches, with the long side parallel to the edge of the counter.
- Starting closest to you, lay the pepperoni over the dough, overlapping slightly like shingles. Leave a half inch of dough uncovered along each side and an inch of dough uncovered at the far edge. Lay the mozzarella and then ham over the pepperoni in the same fashion.
- Starting closest to the edge of the counter, roll the dough with meat and cheese inside. Seal with the uncovered dough at the far edge. Cut off any extra doughy parts on the ends, making sure no meat or cheese is sticking out.
- Place stromboli on a parchment-lined sheet pan, seam side down. Make ½-inch deep scores with a sharp knife, approximately every inch along the length of the stromboli. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for an hour or two to rise before baking.
- While the stromboli is resting (or when it is cooking) prepare the tomato sauce. Place drained tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and salt in a food processor or blender and blend into a puree. Warm in a heavy pot, stirring frequently, over medium heat until sauce has just bubbled for a few minutes. This will allow the garlic to cook slightly and mellow.
- About 15 minutes before cooking preheat oven to 375 oF.
- Beat the egg in a small bowl with a tablespoon of water. Remove the plastic wrap from the stromboli and brush all over with the egg wash. Sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper, Parmesan cheese, and sesame seeds.
- Bake until golden outside and cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before cutting and serve with warm tomato sauce.
