Kremydokalitsouna, adapted from The Foods of the Greek Islands by Aglaia Kremezi, a cookbook I heartily recommend to everyone. This particular dish sends the mouth-watering smell of sauteed onions everywhere and is usually a hit with those people who don't (for some strange reason) like spinach.
Once, I had the filling for these ready and no time to fold into the triangular pies, so I used a cupcake tin instead. Just spray the tin with non-stick spray and line it with a few (three or four) layers of phyllo, brushing with butter between every-other-layer. Fill the cupcake tin with filling and cover with four layers of buttered phyllo. Bake as specified until the top is brown, and, after removing from the oven, cover with a baking sheet and invert the tin. Cut the onion/tomato cupcakes apart and serve.
Onion and Tomato Pies
1/3 cup olive oil
2 1/2 cups thinly sliced onions [1]
1 cup grated ripe tomatoes [2]
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 Tablespoon diced sun-dried tomatoes
2 Tablespoons dried whole wheat bread crumbs
1 cup crumbled Feta Cheese [3]
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 package frozen phyllo dough, thawed [4]
1 stick of butter
Heat the olive oil and saute the onions over medium heat until soft (about five minutes). Add tomatoes, pepper flakes, and black pepper and cook until most of the juices have evaporated, about another five minutes. Remove from heat and add the bread crumbs to thicken the filling, then let the mixture cool completely.
Line a workspace with cling film [5] to work with the phyllo dough. Make two workspaces, each bit enough to lay a sheet of phyllo out full-sized. Unwrap the phyllo and place it on one workspace, covering the phyllo with more cling film and then a damp towel. If you don't do this, the phyllo will dry out and become very difficult to work with.
If the filling is cool, add the feta cheese and taste it to see if it needs salt. Feta is pretty salty on its own, so tasting is really a must. Melt the stick of butter.
Bring the butter, the filling, a pastry brush, a knife, a couple of spoons, and two cookie sheets (sprayed with pam) to the workspace. Separate one sheet of phyllo from the stack and put it on the empty set of cling film, and brush it entirely with butter. Make sure to get the edges. Put another piece of phyllo dough on top of the first one, buttering its top surface.
Pick up the sharp knife and cut the phyllo into four long strips. Drop a dollop of filling onto the top of the strip, and fold it like a flag.
To fold, pick a corner and fold that corner until the top side matches the side opposite the corner, making a diagonal fold and the top piece should be a triangle. Pick up the top corner, folding the whole triangle over it's bottom side. Then pick up the right-angle corner (opposite the long side of the triangle) and fold the triangle over the hypotenuse. Repeat until you're out of phyllo.
After making the triangles, put them on the baking sheet and brush the tops with a little butter.
After you've filled the baking sheets, put them in a preheated 350 oven for about 10-15 minutes - you'll know when they're ready because the edges will be a nice brown and the filling will be bubbly.
Let cool a little and then eat.
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[1] 'thinly sliced' is less than a quarter-inch thick. It seems like a lot of onions, but believe me, they'll cook down. |
