Phyllo for Dinner!

Everybody knows that the best part of going to a wedding is the cocktail hour. And the best part of the cocktail hour (for me) is the passed hors d’oeuvres. To be specific, those lovely little spinach-filled phyllo dough hors d’oeuvres that make a flakey, sometimes embarrassing mess while you are eating them. Nothing like walking around all confident in your pretty new dress, with your hair done, and phyllo flakes leftover on your face 😉
Dinner tonight was basically a huge hors d’oeuvre – what can be better than that?

Spinach, Feta, Sun-Dried Tomato Phyllo Roll
Yield: 2 big rolls

Ingredients:
8 sheets Phyllo dough, thawed
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, pureed (or chopped, depending on your preference)
2 tsp evoo
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp dried basil
20 oz (1 big package) frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
½ cup fat free ricotta
½ cup crumbled feta
¼ cup grated parmesan
1 egg white
1 tbsp earth balance, melted
onion powder to taste

*For the vegans out there, try replacing the cheese with pureed seasoned tofu or chickpeas to get that creamy texture

Place 1 cup of sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl and fill with water until they are all covered. Let sit for 3 hours. Drain well and place tomatoes in food processor and process until pureed. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350F. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the minced garlic, basil,onion powder, and oregano in the evoo for about 5 minutes. Add spinach and sun-dried tomato puree and stir all together over the heat for another minute or so. Set skillet aside. Place 1 sheet of the Phyllo dough on a baking sheet. Brush lightly with melted earth balance and place another Phyllo sheet on top. Repeat this until you have 4 layers of Phyllo. Add cheeses, egg white, and salt and pepper to the spinach mixture and mix thoroughly. Spoon half of the mixture onto phyllo dough and spread evenly, leaving a 2 inch border around all four sides of the dough. Gently fold the 2 inch border over the mixture and begin to roll (see pictures). When finished, repeat these steps to make your second roll. Cook in oven for 22-25 minutes.

*Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect! Just be delicate with the phyllo because it’s very fragile

Pre-Soak

Post-Soak

Pre-Bake

Post-Bake

Needless to say, we polished our plates. This was so easy (let’s not mistake the “unknown” for “difficult” – This was a different cooking experience, but definitely not hard) and is a great way to pretend like you’re some fancy-pants cook the next time you are hosting a get together. You can also try adding mushrooms – I would have loved to do this, but somebody doesn’t like mushrooms. Not naming names. Steve.