BBQ Chicken Meatball Strombolis


Sometimes food is so pretty, and so delicious, that it simply speaks for itself.  Which is the case with this stromboli. The ultimate in ooey, gooey, cheesy comfort food... kicked up a bit, with some fun new flavors.

I'd never made a stromboli, let alone even tasted one. But, I love pizza. And I love calzones. And how much different could a stromboli be, anyway? Not much, except that its long log-like shape is often braided, which ranks high in my book, for presentation. And its great name... appealing to movie buffs, like me, since it was named after the 1949 movie Stromboli, starring Ingrid Bergman.

So, I set out to create the perfect stromboli, using some of my favorite ingredients like ground chicken, BBQ sauce, caramelized onions, corn, and cilantro. And thanks to this week's sale ingredients I was able to get pizza dough for a dollar, and a tomato and green onions for less than that. And the rest, I found in my freezer, fridge and pantry from past sales. A good reminder to stock up when you see sale items that you use regularly, making meals even more cost-effective in the future.


BBQ Chicken Meatball Strombolis

1 pizza dough ball
1 pound ground chicken
1/2 large onion, sliced
3/4 c. barbecue sauce
1 c. frozen corn, defrosted
1/4 c. cilantro, rough chopped
2 green onions, chopped
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 tomato, sliced thin
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

First, roll the ground chicken (that has been salted) into small meatballs. Fry in a skillet with olive oil over medium-high heat until just cooked through, browning on all sides. Set aside in a bowl, and when cool, mix in the BBQ sauce to coat. Then to the skillet add the sliced onion and more oil as needed. Cook on medium-high heat until translucent, then turn down the heat to low and cook until caramelized, for about 10-15 minutes, adding salt to taste.

While the onions are cooking, cut the dough ball in half and on a floured surface, roll and stretch out the dough into two long ovals. Place on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.

To each stromboli, layer on the meatballs (adding extra sauce on the bottom if desired). Top with the cheese, corn, cilantro and green onions- keeping all the ingredients in a line down the center. Then fold over the ends of the dough to seal, and next cut strips about 1 inch deep on the diagonal, down each side of the dough. Alternating from the right to the left, place the strips of dough over the center to cover the filling and create a braid- making sure not to allow too large of gaps in between the strips. Then top with tomato slices, and more corn and green onions, if desired and salt and pepper. Spray with some olive oil spray, to add a nice shine. And bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until the dough is cooked through, especially checking the top center.

Makes 2 Strombolis and serves 4

$1.86 per serving

*Note: all costs are approximate due to regional sale prices, amounts needed just for this specific recipe, and ingredients on hand. This recipe was created to utilize sale ingredients listed for the current week in Raleigh, NC stores.




Comments

  1. Your Stromboli is a real work of art, can't believe it is so inexpensive to make. Very nice!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Cheri! Hope you enjoy it, and hope you experiment with some of the flavors you like, as well :-)

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