The Stromboli Pot - simple, effective and delicious.

I am so excited to write this post because I think I may have discovered a new favourite dish. It’s ridiculously easy to prepare, involves minimal chopping or cooking and can actually be assembled in about five minutes with a smidgen of forward planning. 

This week I was told by my clerks that I would be venturing to the Isle of Wight for a first appearance and if I’m honest I can’t say I was delighted to be travelling all that way (it’s at least 2.5 hours door to door) when I was first told. But then I thought about it and decided an adventure was to be had, after all I’ve never been to the Isle of Wight and one of the fantastic benefits of being a barrister is that I get to venture to new places pretty regularly. 

Well, it turned out to be a bit of a culinary adventure as I found a gem of an Italian cafe in Ryde while I was waiting for the ferry to whisk me back to the mainland. Michelangelo’s is right by the seafront and if you ever find yourself in that part of the world I urge you to pop in for one of their pastries and a cappuccino. At 50p each it would be rude not to have at least a couple…

But I digress, I logged on to tell you about the wonder that is the Stromboli Pot. I must confess, it’s not a dish I have come across before and a quick scour of the internet doesn’t come up with anything similar by that name. So who know’s where it came from, perhaps it’s an Isle of Wight creation, or maybe this is regularly eaten in Stromboli but the world hasn’t been made aware yet… I would love to find out. 

The thing is, this was always going to be a winner of a dish. There is no world in which the combination of goats cheese, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes is a bad thing but the amalgamation of them together in a Stromboli Pot is officially a thing of delight. In the cafe there was an an additional ingredient, anchovies (urgh) but of course I asked them to leave those out. 

Honestly if it wasn’t completely awful table manners, I think I may have gotten my face into that pot and licked it clean. If you only ever try one dish from my blog, make it this one.

So without much further ado, here is the recipe for the Stromboli pot as imparted to me by the waiter at Michelangelo’s Deli Cafe in Ryde on the Isle of Wight. Whoever finds themselves at my house for lunch next may well discover these warming in the oven.

Spinach, Sun-dried Tomato and Goats Cheese Stromboli Pot

First things first, you need to wilt down the spinach, you can do this with a splash of water and a liberal sprinkle of salt and pepper but the deep savoury case I got this lunch time was no doubt from the splash of added vegetable stock. The only thing is that making up a load of stock in order to use the tiny amount you would need to wilt spinach seems like a bit of a mission. I am sure that a pinch of Boullion powder would do the trick. You can do this bit in advance if you are making a few pots. 

From here on out, this dish is pure assembly. You will need a pot with a lid ideally but I don’t see why a ramekin and some tin foil can’t do just as good a job.  

Bottom layer… Wilted spinach in it’s juices. 

Next up… 3 or 4 sun-dried tomatoes (the ones that come in oil)

Finally… top with a chunk of chèvre goats cheese log (you can absolutely find vegetarian versions of this in most supermarkets). 

Now cover and warm in the oven for a few minutes. You don’t want the cheese to fully melt, just leave it long enough for the flavours to amalgamate and for the goats cheese to warm through so it’s soft and yielding in texture. Ooh heaven! 

To serve you don’t need to worry about fancy garnishes, a hunk of ciabatta, a black pepper mill and some kind of grated Italian hard cheese like Parmesan or pecorino (as I have said before, the Basics/tesco value range is veggie friendly) in a dish to the side are the perfect accompaniments. 

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