Roasted Vegetable and Cheese Strudels

This is a great way to use up all those bits of vegetables and small pieces of cheese you have in the fridge and is a nice main for a Meatless Monday. Roast a medley of vegetables that you can toss with your favorite cheese and wrap in some Phyllo pastry. 

 An individual flaky pocket served hot with a nice cool salad and dinner is served.

You will need:

• 1 tomato
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 4-5 cauliflower florets
• 1 small onion
• 1 leek
• 1 small sweet potato
• 1 small fennel bulb
• 1/4 cup medium intense extra virgin olive oil - use your best quality stuff here
• a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper
• 1/4 grated Parmesano Reggiano
• 3 cloves of garlic
• a handful of your favorite mushrooms
• broccolini - a few pieces
• 1 small zucchini
• a handful of baby spinach
• more salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp of herbs de provence
• 2 tbsp great extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1-2 tbsp pesto
• 1/2 fresh grated Parmesano Reggiano
• 4-5 sheets of phyllo pastry

This makes 4- 5 large hand pies.

Step 1: slice tomato, red pepper, green pepper, slices of cauliflower, onion, 1/2 leek - green portion (leave the white portion to cook later) sweet potato and fennel. Toss with olive oil and place on a flat baking tray. Add a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. Roast in a 425 oven for 15 minutes.

 Step 2: with a spatula flip over vegetables and grate a generous sprinkle of Parmesan on top and bake for a further 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Step 3: in a saute pan add a few tbsp of olive oil and saute your more tender veggies like the mushrooms, white portion of the leek, zucchini and I had some broccolini so I tossed it in as well. I added some herbs de provence and some salt and pepper. Saute on high heat until all veggies just start to brown and water evaporates.

Step 4: turn off heat once cooked and add your baby spinach. The residual heat with be enough to wilt the spinach. 

Let all vegetables cool completely.

Step 5: rough chop all veggies and place in a large bowl. Add shredded mozzarella, grated Parmesan, pesto and mix. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as necessary.

Phyllo should be thawed according to box. Take out 5 sheets and cut in half.

Step 6: brush a sheet with a bit of olive oil or butter. Place a second sheet on top and brush the top  with a bit more oil.

Step 7: place 1 cup of mixed vegetables on the bottom of the rectangle. Fold like a spring roll making sure to brush the edges with more oil to have it stick. You can also freeze them at this stage.

Step 8: brush top with more oil, a bit of mozzarella cheese as well as some salt and pepper

Bake 20 minutes at 425 degrees F and serve hot.