Remember when sandwich wraps first came on the scene? Suddenly a been-there, done-that menu item was new again.

All it took was a simple change to the outside. Well, the same goes for a new approach to an “inside” tradition. If you’re looking to make value-priced ingredients exciting—and profitable—wrapping and stuffing are two of the easiest techniques in town.

Wrap Rap

First, let’s talk about nifty things you can use as ready wraps for appetizers, sandwiches, desserts, and other dishes. Flour tortillas, of course, are a super foundation. Give them a chance for wraps, including BLT, grilled-veggie and tuna-salad. San Pablo^® BRAND offers 12-inch wraps in tomato basil, spinach herb, chipotle chili, golden wheat and jalapeño.

Other opportunities for convenience and creativity include purchased egg roll skins, wonton wrappers and phyllo dough. Your Shamrock Foods Sales Representative can help you select from the many options available. Use thawed pizza crust to make baked pocket sandwiches such as Italian-style calzones. These could be an easy transformation from your regular sandwiches made with pastrami, salami, etc.

Even fruit leather can be used as a wrap. For a fun kids’ dessert, roll with a dollop of peanut butter, cream cheese or applesauce—or let the little ones do it themselves.

Bundle Up

Packaging produce and meats can bring a new spark to the appetizer list. Secure wonton wrappers around shredded zucchini and yellow squash, lightly sautéed and flavored with garlic mayo. Wind flour-tortilla strips around a mixture of asparagus, avocado and chopped greens. Provide ranch, vinaigrette or Green Goddess dressing to dip them in.

Need a quick hot appetizer? Form a purse of phyllo dough to hold diced ham and Swiss cheese. Mustard dipping sauce makes it even better. Wrap dill pickles—quartered lengthwise—in a slice of beef and a slice of cheese. Store and chill for an even faster house-made starter.

More Veggie Style

For terrific main dishes and sides, just scoop out traditional vegetables and put something tasty inside. For great stuffed tomatoes, a mixture of corn, zucchini and onions spiced with cilantro and oregano is delicious. Try cabbage stuffed with mashed potatoes and cheddar plus a touch of garlic and horseradish. Rice, breads, and heritage grains such as quinoa and bulgur wheat (see Great Grains on page 10) can be combined with all kinds of ingredients to complement a variety of veggies. For example: Winter squash with rice, walnut, red onion and celery stuffing, flavored with thyme and sage.

Front & Center

You can also put something pleasing inside protein. Premade artisan-style breads from Brickfire Bakery™ are a great place to start; adding just a few interesting ingredients makes a stuffing unique to your operation. Combine rustic bread with mustard greens, currants and pine nuts. Team cornbread with andouille sausage, fennel and red bell peppers. Sweet potatoes give a delightful twist to sourdough stuffing, also flavored with bacon, onion, celery, orange juice and thyme. Don’t forget rice for terrific stuffing: Try a mix of white and wild with mushrooms and onions. Include a dash of hot sauce or cayenne.

Don’t Forget the Fruit

When you’re looking to stuff something, fruit is an option, too. Apple examples certainly abound. Use a savory apple mixture spiced with cinnamon and thyme as a filling for butternut or acorn squash. At Gottino restaurant in NYC, roasted apples are the container for fennel sausage. Dessert, of course, can be baked apple stuffed with dried cherries and pecans. Use pumpkin pie seasoning to accent.

Look to other fruit, too. For an appetizer plate, fill daates with cream cheese or almonds and wrap them with bacon. There are dozens of recipes for chicken stuffed with apricots, and pork loin stuffed with raisins or cranberries. Pears may be added to stuffing, or pears themselves could be stuffed with cheese or nuts for dessert.

Nice Surprise

Patrons love to find extra goodness tucked into menu offerings. Sprinkle tender filets with Cajun Seasoning and hide blue cheese inside. For pork chops or tenderloin, there are plenty of choices. A few ideas: put Greek-style olives; cornbread and cheese; or dried fruit and a dash of ginger in the middle. Bake mini biscuits filled with cheddar, parsley, basil, thyme, sage and black pepper. Slip a bit of jam in the center of cupcakes or muffins before baking.

The major appeal of ravioli, tortellini, shells and other stuffed pastas is the filling. Make yours special with a blend of cheeses. Or a combination of shrimp, chives and goat cheese. Ground beef, parsley and garlic also make great ravioli to serve with prepared tomato sauce and grated Parmesan.

Ethnic Inspiration

Take a pita; then tuck in sautéed beef, onions, tomatoes, black pepper and a touch of cayenne for a delicious Eastern European style pocket sandwich. Take note of the continuing trend regarding the street food of other countries. For example, a stuffed and griddled cornmeal pancake called pupusa has been moving out of Latin America. It’s traditionally paired with cheese or refried beans, but the pancake makes a great wraparound for morsels of seafood, beef, pork, and a variety of grilled vegetables.

A restaurant in Connecticut has put a new twist on the Asian egg roll: smoky pork is combined with jicama, tomato and avocado and doused with a coffee-accented barbecue sauce. For a taste of the Mediterranean, stuff green peppers with couscous, feta, garbanzos and zucchini—spice with oregano and fennel. Some customers will enjoy kale or cabbage instead of iceberg as their lettuce wrap.

In the Morning

Stuffed French toast and pancakes are trendy for breakfast right now. Flavor combinations include banana and peanut butter, and cream cheese and orange marmalade. Bob Evans recently introduced Caramel Banana Pecan Cream Pancakes, with the fruit-nut mixture ladled on just before the pancakes are turned.

Today’s breakfast wraps are more sophisticated, with Southwestern flavors such as salsa and chorizo. And more veggie options that mirror high-end omelette ingredients—e.g. wild mushrooms, arugula and scallions.

On the Double

Some chefs like to wrap and stuff in the same dish. As at Sportello in Boston, where skillet-seared and baked chicken breasts are stuffed with Asiago and wrapped with prosciutto. In nearby Cambridge, one chef stuffs his baked apple dessert with dried fruits, rum and brown sugar, then puts the whole thing inside a pastry shell.

In short, a new and popular signature item could be a matter of looking at what you already offer and changing it up on the outside, the inside, or both.