Between Two Fillo
August 10, 2020 5:54 PM   Subscribe

What savory meals can I make with fillo (phyllo) dough?

I just made spanikopita* for the first time and thought, huh, that wasn't as daunting as I thought it would be.

Now I'm curious, what other tasty meals can I put between two layers of flaky fillo dough? I'm interested in all your fave recipes: vegan or meaty, gluten-free or gluten-full, spicy or mild, cheesy or... not cheesy. Any pie filling that wouldn't be too soggy, and could become a one-dish lunch or supper.

My partner would prefer recipes without onions or mushrooms, but I'm open to anything really!

*With frozen fillo dough, let's be real.
posted by juliaem to Food & Drink (13 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Have you tried spanikopita but with cabbage? I highly recommend it. It's a great lunch with a tomato side salad or some kind of meatball/sausage. Don't forget the full fat yogurt!

I also suggest exploring the wide world of Turkis böreks. They are often made with cheese and/or potatoes, sometimes meat (usually beef), but are infinitely customizable. You can get fancy (spirals!), or do single serve rolls, or just make a huge casserole.
posted by stripesandplaid at 6:14 PM on August 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Borek is tasty and there's a bunch of recipes available online. Make little spring roll-shapes with the filo to make sigara borek. (edit: yeah, what stripesandplaid just said.)

Basically, almost anything that goes into a pie, savory or sweet, can also go into filo. My mother will put a curried beef and potato and raisin mixture into a filo crust.
posted by pykrete jungle at 6:15 PM on August 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


Borek? My mom got a recipe from a Turkish family friend which is basically macaroni and cheese, dill, and phyllo pastry. But I think anything can go in it (in the same way that you can make a pie with anything in it).
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:15 PM on August 10, 2020


(Hey everyone, I think MetaFilter likes borek.)
posted by pykrete jungle at 6:16 PM on August 10, 2020 [9 favorites]


Oh, yes, this will set you up verrrrrry nicely.

Essentially this is a fillo dough meat pie. Best fresh obviously, but also works well reheated.

Ingredients
  • 16 oz. package of frozen phyllo dough, thawed
  • 1 egg, whisked in 1 cup of milk
  • 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
For the meat filling
  • 1 cup chopped onions
  • 1.5 lb lean ground beef
  • 1 tsp ground allspice
  • 1 TB chopped garlic
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Steps
  • Preheat oven to 350 F.
  • Put the thawed phyllo dough sheets between two damp kitchen towels so they don't dry out
  • Set burner to medium-high. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pan. Saute onions briefly then add the ground beef. Cook until fully browned
  • Remove the pan and drain fat, then return back to the stove. Add in the spices and stir. Remove from the heat.
Assemble pie
  • Place three to four sheets of phyllo dough on the bottom of a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan.
  • Brush the top phyllo sheet very generously with olive oil.
  • Repeat this step with each sheet of fillo until you have used up 1/2 of the fillo sheets.
  • Spread the filling evenly on top of the last fillo sheet.
  • Layer the remaining sheets on top of the meat repeating the same process as before (again, three or four sheets at a time, fold excess fillo and oil the top sheet until the phyllo sheets are used up.)
  • Brush the top sheet very generously with olive oil (or melted butter). Cut into 12 squares.
  • Season the milk and egg mixture with salt and pepper and pour evenly over the pie.
  • Place pie on the middle rack of the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour. Be sure to check in the last 15 minutes, when done it should be a nice golden brown.

posted by jeremias at 6:30 PM on August 10, 2020 [3 favorites]


Samosas!
posted by pinochiette at 8:22 PM on August 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


Best answer: We used to make this Cabbage Strudel recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook. It's really good. Haven't made it in a while, so thanks for the reminder.
posted by CathyG at 8:43 PM on August 10, 2020 [1 favorite]


I hear you can fold it around brie and mix in some figs and preserves and stuff.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:25 PM on August 10, 2020 [1 favorite]


Best answer: “Spanakopita, but it’s X” is a very rich vein that can be mined for weeks on end. For example, spanakopita but it’s zucchini, aka kolokithopita. Or spanakopita but it’s all cheese, aka tiropita. There is also a mushroom version so I’m glad you made that stipulation!
posted by capricorn at 9:44 PM on August 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


Best answer: b'stilla is quite fiddly, but incredibly delicious.
Generally, I love pie and I am known to make pies of everything in the fridge, sweet and savory. For some reason, I'm not very good at making samosas, but instead I put the samosa filling in fillo triangles and either bake them in the oven or deep fry them, both options are good.
Another thing where Fillo dough is really good is the classic McDonald's apple pie. The linked recipe uses puff pastry, but I prefer fillo for all things deep fried.
posted by mumimor at 12:20 AM on August 11, 2020


Best answer: Here is my family's baklava recipe. It's dead easy and very delicious.

I've since started adding 2 tsp of cinnamon to the filling and cutting down the last layer of filo to about half of the remaining and my nana has given me her blessing and says I've improved it.
posted by ananci at 7:08 AM on August 11, 2020 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Here's a Salmon and Spinach Strudel I've made numerous times. It also has fennel, and is absolutely scrumptious. A sauce makes this dish great, don't skip it. I usually make a simple hollandaise, there's also a great sauce recipe in the recipe's comments. You can mix up the sauce a million ways to make it your own as well.
posted by sydnius at 7:35 AM on August 11, 2020 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks ya'll, this was exactly what I needed to fuel my next cooking adventure. And it's great to know Metafilter is pro börek!
posted by juliaem at 4:02 PM on August 11, 2020


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