Arugula and Goat Cheese Stromboli

As I made my way home tonight, I was trying to figure out another use for my arugula pesto. I didn't want pasta, as I thought it would be too similar to my spaetzle. Somehow, the idea of goat cheese popped into my head. It sounded like the perfect pair to the bright and sharp pesto.

Now, it's only in the past year or so that I've been able to eat goat cheese. It just tasted gross to me before. On a trip to France in high school, I had a fantastic meal in a very cool troglodyte restaurant (something like this) complete with a giant brick of chevre. When the old lady next to me saw that I wasn't eating mine, she swiped it off my plate, amazed that I didn't think it was the best thing I had ever eaten. I thought that was a little forward of her, but hey, I certainly wasn't going to touch the stuff, so I'm glad she got some enjoyment out of it.

Lucky for me, I found "Chevre Light" at Trader Joe's. It's made with skim goat milk for a cheese with less than half the calories of a regular goat cheese. It is also milder, more to my taste. I was very happy to find this, and I will definitely be buying it again.

Being lazy, I also bought Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough. I tossed the dough to a fairly uniform thickness, then laid it on the counter. That was covered with arugula pesto (about 1/2 of my original recipe, or about 3/8 of a cup), then dotted with the chevre, some chopped tomatoes and a light spray with olive oil. Then I rolled this up into a thin log and baked at 425 for 15-20 minutes.

This was dangerously tasty... I ate way more than I needed to. I was surprised just how well the pesto and the cheese went together. The chevre really brought out the little bit of lemon zest in the pesto for a very clean and light taste.

Using store-made dough and already having the pesto on hand, it only took me 5 minutes to throw this together... add the baking time, and I was eating in under half an hour. This would be fantastic with a big salad or a piece of grilled chicken... anything to keep it light and to carry the flavors.