Cuban Stromboli

Does it surprise any of you to know that I've managed to single handedly tick off the workers at the deli counters of every grocery store that I frequent?  It wasn't that hard really.  I'll give you my secret.  Order your favorite cold cuts by the slice instead of by weight.  I don't intentionally try and annoy the deli workers.  It's just easier for me to calculate the amount of lunch meat and cheese that I'm going to need for a deli tray by slice instead of trying to guesstimate the weight.  And quite honestly, I figured that it would be easier for the employee to count to 30 than try and estimate the weight of any given meat. 

Based on the extreme adverse reactions from grocery store deli employees, including everything from eye rolls to outright refusal, I can tell you that deli workers WANT you to order by weight and NOT per slice.  (If there are any deli workers out there who might be reading this blog - please leave me a comment and let me know why my unconventional ordering is unintentionally aggravating the meat slicers.)  My objective is not to annoy anyone - I just don't want to under or over-buy lunch meat.  

If every person in my family is going to eat one sandwich with 4 slices of meat, I order 20 slices from the deli counter.  I know it's borderline compulsive but I don't end up with excess meat that way.  I'm not very good at estimating how many slices are in one pound of meat - hence my unusual ordering techniques. 

Despite my best ordering efforts - there are times when we end up with more lunch meat in the house that we can use.  And there are times when I'm fairly certain that the deli worker passively aggressively adds slices to my very precise order just to send a message.  When that happens and our bread to meat ratio is off and we have an excess of meat - I make stromboli.  It's a great way to use up extra lunch meat (and cheese) when you're tired of cold sandwiches.  

Cuban Stromboli
1 recipe pizza dough
4 slices Swiss cheese
6 slices deli ham
6 slices deli turkey
4 kosher pickle strips
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water
sesame seeds

Roll out pizza dough to a 12x6" rectangle.

Layer cheese and meats over dough. 

Place pickles over meat.  

Roll up, starting at long edge. 

Whisk together yolk and water.  

Brush egg mixture over dough.  

Bake 15 minutes at 450.  

If you want to make this recipe even simpler - skip the dough making and purchase a pre-made pizza dough from the grocery store.  If you start with a prepared dough - you can have this meal on the table in under 30 minutes.  

Ciao!

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