Strudel - Sausage and Mushroom

Author: Richard Slavinsky

Ingredients

• $1$ pound sweet Italian sausage
• $1$ pound mushrooms
• $4$ to $5$ scallions
• $2$ tablespoons oil
• $2$ tablespoons butter
• $1$ teaspoon salt (optional)
• $\frac{1}{2}$ teaspoon pepper (optional)
• $1$ package phyllo dough (you will not need all of it; return remainder to package and put back till needed)
• About $1$ stick butter, melted
• About $1\frac{1}{2}$ cups fine bread crumbs (may need more)
• Sour cream (optional)

Instructions

• Remove casing from sausage and cook over medium heat until browned.
• Break it up into very small pieces and set aside.
• Wash, pat dry, and mince the mushrooms into tiny bits.
• Mince the scallions, the green portions as well as the white.
• Cook the mushrooms and scallions together over low heat in the oil and butter until all the oil and butter disappears, $5$ to $10$ minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper, if you wish, and combine with sausage. You may find that the mixture has enough seasoning in it as is, just from the seasoned sausage.
• Have phyllo dough defrosted out on your work table.
• It should be covered with a damp (wrung out) cloth to keep the dough from drying out. You will need $4$ sheets of dough for each strudel.
• Place a sheet of dough on another cloth and dry one.
• Brush the sheet of dough well with some of the melted butter.
• Sprinkle with a thin layer of fine bread crumbs.
• Add a second sheet of dough, brush with butter, and sprinkle with crumbs.
• Add third layer of dough, brush with butter, and sprinkle with crumbs.
• Repeat with fourth layer, then on top of that, take some of the mushroom scallion sausage filling and place it along the larger side of the dough.
• The filling should fill entire length two inches inward, no more.
• Now, using the towel underneath, roll up dough and tuck in ends.
• Grease a cookie sheet and carefully place roll on sheet, seam side down.
• Brush roll on all sides with melted butter.
• Repeat process once or twice more till filling is used up.
• Using a sharp knife, cut through the strudel halfway in the size portions you wish to serve - smaller for appetizer-size, larger for main course of dinner.
• Bake in preheated $400°$ oven for $20$ minutes.
• Serve hot, as it is, or with sour cream.

Tip

Will serve $6$ to $12$, depending on the size of your slices.