Makes 8-10 Strudels
Prep time: 20-30 mins | Cooking time: approx 2 hours total
These plaited pastry pockets are favourites of ours throughout the autumn and winter months, when root vegetables are in season. While these veggies are readily available year-round on supermarket shelves, the earthiness and warmth of these strudels feels like a hug, and the flavours and colours evoke the very best of autumn. These strudels are packed full of symbolism, too. The seasonal vegetables are traditional Sukkot fare, as are stuffed foods, both evocative of the bountiful harvest that we pray will coincide with the festival of booths. They also contain many of the Rosh Hashanah Simanim making them an equally wonderful choice for the new year! Feel free to substitute or add whichever root vegetables you prefer. Serve hot or cold, as a starter or main, with a simple green salad. Leftovers make great lunchbox fillers, perfect for a Sukkah crawl!
Ingredients
- 1 roll of Frozen Puff Pastry, 75% defrosted so it is malleable but not soft and sticky
- 3 Carrots, diced
- 3 Courgettes, diced
- 250g Butternut Squash, diced
- 250b Sweet Potato, diced
- 3 Onions, diced
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 2-3 tbsp Oil
- 1-2 Eggs, beaten (for glazing)
- Salt & Pepper
- Dried herbs or spices, e.g. Italian Seasoning, nutmeg, paprika. (optional – to taste)
Method
- Preheat your oven to 200°C / 180°C fan (Gas Mark 6 / 400°F)
- Place all vegetables in an ovenproof dish and coat with oil, salt, pepper and any additional herbs or spices of your choosing. Root vegetables can handle most anything you throw at them, so feel free to play with flavour. Moroccan spices and a little chilli will give these a warming kick, whilst Italian seasoning will bring a fragrant vibrancy.
- Mix to combine, then roast uncovered for 60-90 minutes until cooked through but not mushy. Stir occasionally for an even cook.
- Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
- Roll the pastry out on a chopping board
- and cut into rectangles approximately
- 15cm x 18cm (6″ x 7″).
- At 2cm (½”) intervals long each of the longer edges, cut a 4-5cm (1½”) slit, so that you have small flaps running down opposite edges.
- Transfer to a baking parchment-lined oven tray, then spoon a generous helping of vegetables down the centre of the pastry, leaving a little space at each end and avoiding the flaps.
- Carefully, starting at the top end, pull the flaps diagonally downwards across the vegetable filling in a latice pattern, alternating sides as you work your way to the bottom.
- When you reach halfway, start latticing from the opposite end and meet in the middle pressing the final piece of pastry down to stick to the flap underneath.
- Repeat for all pieces of pastry, then glaze with washed egg and transfer to the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the pastry has turned golden brown and puffed up. (We recommend checking regularly from 20 minutes onwards). Then serve and enjoy!
Photo by Yaffa Judah
