The magic (and ease) of phyllo / filo pastry and a few leftover vegetables.

Every cook has their selection of easy, foolproof recipes. Maybe it’s a bag of pasta for those nights you really don’t feel like cooking (mmm macaroni cheese!), or some frozen quorn soya something-or-other you can throw in the oven and dish up with some new potatoes. One of my thrown-together meal essentials is phyllo pastry, which is readily available in UK supermarkets and is inexpensive (phyllo dough is something I’ve yet to attempt making on my own). It’s an easy pastry to work with, and seems to go with almost anything. It makes for a great way to use up vegetables and other bits, foods with which you’re not sure what to do (the word I’m getting at here is “experiment”).

This week I had some fresh spinach that needed to be used up, along a courgette (zucchini), and in only twenty minutes prepared a lovely meal with some yummy filo tarlets filled with easy vegetables.

Please note that I’m flaky about quantities (if I tried to follow a recipe exactly, my kitchen would end up in even worse condition)! What I’m saying is basically that I’m not held liable if I didn’t actually provide the right quantities in my recipes below…

Spinach and Cheddar Phyllo Tartlets (left in top picture):

• 3 sheets of phyllo / filo pastry
• A couple handfuls of fresh spinach, washed and drained
• 1/4 cup vegetarian cheddar cheese (I prefer the strongest cheddar I can find)
• 1/2 medium sized onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic (or more if you like!), crushed/minced
• 1 egg, beaten
• salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil and/or butter

Preheat oven to about 190 C.

First, beat the egg with a little bit of salt and/or pepper. Set aside.

Fry the onion and garlic together with some oil or butter in a saucepan for a couple of minutes, or until soft and fragrant. Add the washed spinach in handfuls until cooked down. Drain the liquid from the mixture, either by using a sieve or with a spoon, or any other way that works best for you! Mix in cheese after it’s drained. Set aside.

Layer the 3 sheets of phyllo pastry on top of one another. The diagram here shows how to best cut the pastry. First cut the sheets into 6 peices (solid lines), and then stack those 6 peices and cut in half once more (dotted lines).

It’s up to you whether or not you want to use butter or oil (both are nice). Either way, layer 2 pieces of phyllo squares on top of each other and brush with melted butter or oil. Place another two or three squares on top of this, at a slight angle, and brush with butter / oil again. Do this one final time. Make sure that you’ve brushed each of the three layers with the butter/oil, and don’t be afraid to be relatively liberal with the oil, either (don’t soak the pastry, but make sure it’s well covered). This process should yield somewhere between 4 and 6 different piles of layered pastry.

This is the general shape you’re going for when layering the filo/phyllo pastry. Of course it doesn’t have to be exact, and some sheets may be longer than others (so your squares will be rectangles, but that doesn’t matter).

Butter or oil a muffin or bun tin (the things you’d make cupcakes in) and gently press the layered phyllo piles into each muffin hole.

Fill each tartlet about 3/4 full of the spinach and cheese mixture prepared earlier, and top with a teaspoon or two of egg. Bake for about 6-8 minutes, but watch the oven because phyllo can burn relatively easily!

Courgette, Tomato, and Garlic Tartlets (right in top picture):

• 3 sheets of phyllo / filo pastry
• 2-3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp melted butter
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 smallish courgette
• Olive oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Vegetarian Worcestershire (FYI: “real” worcestershire is not veggie-friendly) — optional
• Vegetarian cheddar or parmesan (another FYI: parmesan, by definition, is not vegetarian, so seek out the stuff that’s specifically marked veggie!)

Regarding what to do with the pastry, follow the instructions in the previous spinach filo tartlet recipe; it’s the same deal!

Slice the courgette very thinly and fry in a little bit of oil or butter until soft. Mix in tomato paste and fill phyllo tartlets 3/4 full with the mixture. Add salt and/or pepper if desired.

Cover the thinly sliced garlic in melted butter. Top the courgette mixture with a few slices of the garlic, followed by a sprinkling of cheese and a teaspoon or so of the egg mixture. Bake for 6-8 minutes at 190 C. Squirt on some veggie worcestershire after it’s done!

Dish up and enjoy! This goes great with new potatoes (or my favourite current weakness — tinned marrowfat peas). YUM!

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