Friday food

But first, I have been indoctrinated into a special society by the lovely Miss T:

 

What can I say. The deadly onion did indeed make me cry. But hey! We've had 14 whole days without injury resulting in loss of cooking time in our kitchen! We prize safety here at Chez Knit Think.

On to the food part of this week. Here's the deal. Familia Knit Think likes to have movie nights. We usually eat something that doesn't quite qualify as healthy while staring at the TV screen. Lately we have been on a quest: we are determined to watch the 100 Best Horror Movies. Some we'd already seen as a family, notably The Amityville Horror, which we watched in a hotel room in Madison, WI, and may have been the kids' first experience with horror flicks. But what an introduction! A house with poltergeists and bleeding walls!

We're randomly going through the list, but saving the top 10 for last. It's interesting what made the list. Some really oldies-but-goodies; some oldies that were probably really good back in the day, but today? Not so much. I'm talking about you, 1978's Friday the Thirteenth. Not only were we not scared, we were roaring with laughter and screaming at the TV, "Why won't you just DIE!!!" Some are horror comedies, an odd genre, but Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorite movies of all times.

Last week we watched 2004's Dawn of the Dead. I'd never seen a Dawn of the Dead movie (there are several variations) and hadn't any interest before (other than the aforementioned Shaun), but you know what? It was pretty good. There was even some humor involving a sharpshooter picking off celebrity zombies, like Jay Leno and Rosie O'Donnell. It had just enough quirkiness to be surprising, like having the opening credits accompanied by a Johnny Cash song. And having the Disturbed song "Down With the Sickness" performed by a lounge singer.

It's been a lot of fun, except maybe for Rosemary's Baby, which suffered from old-school acting techniques.

I've been trying to find interesting things to eat that feel movie night-ish but are different than our same-old, same-old. I found a little recipe in the most recent Kowalski's magazine that looked to fit the bill.

 

Pepperoni Stromboli. Involving frozen bread dough, pizza sauce, pepperoni, cheese, and other assorted goodies (at least for the adults).

This did require me to get out my rolling pin, and you know what? I don't like rolling things out. Partly because I'm not very good at it, and partly because it smacks of baking.

In case you're wondering why someone who doesn't like to bake or roll things out owns not only a rolling pin, but a pastry board and a fancy-dancy pastry turner, those latter items were courtesy of my parents, who frequently make pie when they come to visit and were aghast at my lack of proper equipment. I know the dough doesn't look too bad up there, but it's supposed to be a rectangle, not a circle.

 

That's pretty embarrassing.

Let's focus on what happened after all the rolling and swearing. I spread pizza sauce on half of each--um--blob. Then I put a boatload of cheese, followed by basil, sun-dried tomatoes, marinated artichoke hearts, and green olives.

 

Then I folded them closed, at which point they at least looked better. Oh--and I brushed water along the border before pressing the crust together. Then I mixed an egg yolk with some water and brushed that over the top before cutting slits in each piece and popping them in the oven.

 

As you see, the crust got nice and brown, light and crispy. And the cheese got all melty. And it was absolutely yummy. This will definitely go onto the movie night rotation, even with rolling pins. But next time, I have to make more for the kids--they could easily have eaten two.

What's your favorite movie night food?

Pepperoni Stromboli

1 loaf frozen bread dough, thawed according to pkg. directions

1 cup pizza sauce, divided

32 pepperoni slices, divided

1 cup chopped marinated artichoke hearts, divided

1 cup finely shredded 6 Italian cheese blend, divided

8 pitted olives of your choice, sliced, divided

¼ cup julienne-cut sun-dried tomatoes, drained, blotted dry, divided

4 fresh basil leaves, chopped, divided

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp. water

Divide dough into 4 equal pieces; roll each on lightly floured surface into a 6”x8” rectangle. (A blob is fine too.) Arrange toppings in order given over half of each rectangle, leaving a ½” border. Wet edges of dough with water; fold dough over fillings, pressing with fork to seal. In small bowl, combine egg and water; brush over top of dough with a pastry brush. With a sharp knife, cut 3 1”-slits in the top of each roll. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet; bake in a preheated 375˚F oven until golden brown (20-25 minutes). Serve immediately.

Comments

[debra]

#2 daughter and I have done our cheesy chick flick marathons.
#1 daughter who is away at college is into cheesy Disney marathons, so it is fitting that we eat cheese pizza or cheese popcorn, yes?

[kathy b]

Oh your pastry turner makes you look sooooo cool. Very pretty!

[Guinifer]

Friday the 13th and Weird Science were free On Demand movies last night. Puck had the remote so we watched a couple of REALLY dated movies! To our horror - the popcorn cupboard is EMPTY!

[Angie]

Yummy Friday Food!!!

Yeah, what Cindy said...I have a "pastry" (!snort!) turner that looks just about like that one! :D

[Connie]

I have a recipe for pepperoni bread. You start with bread dough, layer pepperoni, salami, cheeses, etc and roll it up and bake. It is delicious, freezes well, and is great for school lunches!

[rudee]

I'm not much for the horror genre of film, preferring instead to watch reruns of Last of the Mohicans. Daniel Day Lewis was hot back then. I do like food that's stuffed and your stromboli looks amazing. I think I may try that. Thanks for the recipe.

I don't know which show I saw this on, and I haven't tried it, but one of those cooks on food network recommended putting the whole onion in the freezer for a few minutes prior to dicing. She swore the task was tearless with this tip.

[Cindy]

"Pastry turner" my eye! That's a lefse stick if I've ever seen one.

The stromboli is making my mouth water.

[laurie]

anything with melted cheese (especially a "boatload" of it) is ok by me.

[Elizabeth]

That looks good! We usually do nachos for our movie night. I think Pizza Dough is very hard to shape - better crooked than full of holes.

[Chris]

Probably you should be drinking Bloody Brains while you watch these movies...

[elizabeth]

That looks really good, and a nice alternative to pizza! Onions always make me cry.

[kmkat]

I loved Shaun of the Dead. And I would love to eat one of those stromboli -- I suppose I have to make it myself, huh? You're not going to come over to my house and make it for me? Nah, didn't think so. But thanks for the recipe!

[Miss T]

Fourteen days, whoo hoo!

That looks really good. I do love pizza for movie nights, and now you've got me thinking about it...we've got a Kowalski's crust in the freezer...

For the record, I can't roll out a proper circle, either! You should see mine.

[Sandra Hume]

That looks scrumptious, so much so that I may slightly alter the traditional Friday-night homemade pizza. It also looks like what I think of as a calzone. I'm picturing a stromboli as a spiral roll-up. Have I been wrong all this time?

Sandra

[Carole]

That looks good. I chopped 6 onions this morning to make a huge pot of spaghetti sauce. You can bet I was crying!

[cursingmama]

Movie Night Food:
Popcorn - preferably popped by Mr. M on the stove.

The stromboli look really good - we used to "dish" something similar - they can be made ahead & frozen.