I’ve made this before with only mushrooms and arugula , but wanted to bring something special to a fun family holiday dinner, so updated the recipe by adding sweet potatoes (or yams…. I haven’t figured out the difference yet!)

Here’s what I made and how I did it!

Preheat oven to 375 then….

Ingredients (to make two loafs)

1 box of pre-made phyllo pastry

3 or 4 yams, peeled

2 shallots, peeled and chopped

2 packages of mixed mushrooms (about 4 – 5 cups)

1 clam shell container of baby arugula mixed with spinach (about 4 – 5 cups, I think…)

1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs balsamic vinegar

1 tbs dijon mustard

a few tbs of Earth Balance butter substitute (or butter…. I decided to keep this one vegan)

HOW:

I peeled and cut the yams into chunks, and then roasted them earlier in the day, in a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Once cool, I mashed them with a potato ricer.

About an hour before you’re ready to assemble the pastry, take the phyllo dough out of the refrigerator. It works best at room temperature.

Sautée the mushrooms and shallots in a bit of olive oil. Add the balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard and salt and pepper to taste. Then add the arugula and spinach, and cover the sauce pan for a few minutes to let the greens wilt.  Then add the yams/sweet potatoes and mix well.

Melt the earth balance in  a small pot.

Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Then, carefully take a sheet of phyllo, brush with the melted earth balance/butter. Do this for each sheet, adding 4 to 5 layers.

Then, spoon the mixture onto the pastry, like this….favouring one side of the pastry.

Carefully roll the pastry up, folding down the edges at either end. Brush with the earth balance/butter once more, then score it with about 5 or six slits.

Repeat and make another strudel… or cut the recipe in half and just make one…. Either way, you’ll have phyllo sheets left over. Fill with apples, or any left over mixture and make mini triangles, or keep the dough to make something else later.

Cover the pastry lightly with foil (I just lay the sheet of foil over the pastry) and bake covered for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from oven, let cool a bit, slice and plate.  If you’re serving the strudel as a main course, you could add a light mushroom gravy.

Enjoy!