frozen filo (phyllo)

[saansaansaan]

I bought some frozen filo dough because it was on sale. I've never used the stuff before and when I looked around online for things to do with it I was quickly overwhelmed with the options. So, please, can you tell me your favorite things to make with it? I'm more interested in savory dishes than sweet, though I'd be happy for any recipes you

Comments

[mschaos]

spinach feta tomato and garlic made into little triangles

yummy!

[saansaansaan]

That sounds yummy indeed. The grocery store had feta on sale too and I didn't buy any because I have way too much cheese in my house already...I might have to go back...

[mschaos]

add a wee bit of good olive oil as well...makes everything blend together nicely

you can also add kalamata olives, or sausage or pretty much any combination you can think of that seems tasty

[infinitehotel]

Seconded with the spinach and feta; a search on "spanakopita" will give you lots of recipes, but they all boil down to spinach and cheese wrapped in triangles of feta.

Another option is to take a tub or two of button mushrooms, chop them in the food processor into small pieces, and then saute them with butter and shallots until you've made mushroom duxelles. Finish these with a splash of cream and a dusting of herbs, maybe a little bit of sherry, and fold into triangles the same way you would the spinach. Makes a simple and elegant appetizer.

The main thing with filo is to make sure to keep it covered while you work with it, preferably with plastic wrap covered with a lightly dampened dishcloth. It dries out hellaciously fast, and especially if you've never worked with it before, your first couple tries are going to take a little while. Otherwise, it's much more forgiving than you'd expect; even the most ragged first attempts usually come out of the oven looking edible.

Good luck and enjoy!

[saansaansaan]

That does sound tasty but I don't think I can get anything like cool whip in Germany!

I like the idea of making a sort of tart crust thing with the filo.

[mschaos]

maybe make a quiche type thing with the crust?

[saansaansaan]

Except I hate quiche. ;)

The box of pastry looks large enough to possibly make two dishes (since we're only two people), so I might try some sort of entree one night and a dessert another night with the crust idea. I'm thinking berries...

[whiskeylover]

goat's cheese and red onion marmalade parcels:

put down 3-4 layers of filo pastry, brush with butter, and sit a slice of soft goat's cheese in the middle, top with a spoonful of red onion marmalade, then bring up the sides of the pastry, so that it closes at the top and put in the oven at a medium heat (180-200 degrees) until golden brown.

As far as I know, onion marmalade is not terribly common in Germany, so you might have to make it yourself:

Slice one - two red onions into fine rings, then heat them in a frying pan over a low heat, until transparent. Add a generous amount of balsamic vinegar, and let it simmer for a while. If need be, add a little sugar, but normally the onions are sufficiently sweet in themselves.

Oh, and it's vegetarian too... (one can also add some chopped nuts, if wanted)

[saansaansaan]

I love goat's cheese; YUM! I think I'd prefer to be making my own onion marmalade anyway (I swear this recipe is nearly exactly the same as a recipe I have somewhere for a "quick onion chutney.") This would be tasty with toasted walnuts or hazelnuts, I'm sure.

I can see already that I'm still going to have a hard time deciding what to do in the end. Maybe I should go back to the grocery store and buy a few more boxes for future use. :)

A rose by any other name...

[whiskeylover]

You are absolutely right, it really is a chutney- for some bizarre reason, it also goes by the name of onion marmalade, despite the fact that no citrus fruit are involved. Anyway, whatever name you like to call it, it really is quite lovely :)

Re: A rose by any other name...

[saansaansaan]

I use the onion chutney for grilled sandwiches with brie on rye.

[lola_joan]

spanakopita!

i don't have a recipe for it, but if you just google it, you should find something good. this one, for example, looks good. :)

[saansaansaan]

That defiantly sounds special and I think my husband would like it...I'm thinking to it would be nice to add some extra veggies besides the spinach...maybe tomatoes or eggplant?

[lola_joan]

Hm, yeah, you could probably do that. Maybe some finely diced tomato... I don't know about eggplant though. Well, maybe if you roasted it first so it was mushy! Cuz spanakopita tends to come out rather delicate and flakey, so I don't know if big chunks/slices of something would really work. You could try googling spanakopita with eggplant or with tomato and see if anything interesting pops up. :)

[saansaansaan]

Roasted eggplant was exactly what I was thinking. :)

[crossfire]

Phyllo can be difficult to work with if you're doing it for the first time. Be sure to read some recipes and instructions to familiarize yourself with the techniques.

My absolute favorite thing to make with phyllo is spanakopita, a turnover stuffed with spinach, onion, feta, and parsley. Next up are burek, which are cheese or meat filled turnovers or pies.

[saansaansaan]

Thanks for the resource. I was already aware of the problem with it drying out, since I'm one of those people who read recipes for fun, whether I have the ingredients or not. :) I was not, however, aware that I'd have to thaw it in the fridge overnight in order to keep the sheets from sticking to each other.

[crossfire]

Yeah, slow and steady wins the race when it comes to thawing the dough.

I have a love-hate relationship with phyllo. Here in Denver it is very dry, so phyllo tends to dry out very quickly, even when I cover it up with a damp towel, so it's hard to work with. But even so it's fun to work with, and the results are really spectacular.

[whitr]

hey, crossfire_ have you ever made b'stilla? I've wanted to try it and I found what looks to be a decent recepie. and for saansaansaan here is said recepie. This may be too much, but since i was just looking at it yesterday, i had it handy