better-late-than-never savory phyllo bake

Posted by: annie on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Weekends around here are usually pretty food-centric; we have more time to plan and shop and cook, for one thing, and there are often a few hungry friends hanging around with that feed me look in their eyes — which, of course, we always do. This weekend, however, was even more food-focused than usual.

On Saturday afternoon, we took the train down to the 2008 Living Traditions Festival in an attempt to load up on tasty dishes from as many different ethnic food vendors as we could. We walked around for at least half an hour, perusing the menus and trying to decide what sounded the best, but it all looked so good that we decided to just hop in two of the shortest lines. Most of the vendors were kind enough to have at least one vegetarian dish, if not an entire combo meal, so we were fairly confident that we would be happy with whatever ended up on our plates.

Bryson got Pad Thai (good but not great, and entirely too bland for his Sriracha-trained palate) and veggie spring rolls (which I loved, but I could literally eat spring rolls with every meal) from the local Thai Buddhist temple, and I got a spicy potato plate (seasoned perfectly but unfortunately quite cold) and veggie momos (such a delicious dish that I can’t even imagine biting into one that wasn’t everything I was hoping it would be) from the Utah Tibetan Association.

Unfortunately, all that starchy food left us entirely too full to even think about indulging in the one thing we really loved from last year’s festival, which was fried plantains and cream with powdered sugar. We even tried to walk around for awhile to see if we could somehow make room for a bite or two, to no avail. I’ve been craving one ever since, and you know what that means — there will probably be some experimenting in the near future (I say experimenting because I’ve never cooked a plantain myself before, much less tried to deep-fry one).

On Sunday, we loaded up three bags of food and headed to my parents’ house to cook a belated Mother’s Day dinner for my mom. It was nice to dirty up somebody else’s kitchen for a change, and the dishes we prepared were some of my all-time favorites.

I just might have started munching on dessert (raspberries with creme fraiche and Golden Delicious slices topped with fresh mozzarella) before we even sat down to eat.

SAVORY PHYLLO BAKE

You could honestly use just about anything as your layers, but we really love the combination of flavors in this version. Phyllo’s not as frustrating as you may have heard (it’s all about being totally prepared before you actually get started), but if you’ve never worked with it before, you may want to check out the always informative VeganYumYum’s step-by-step photo instructions. You may save yourself a mid-recipe trip to the store for more dough. Just sayin’.

1/2 c sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 c artichoke hearts, chopped
1/4 c pine nuts, toasted

13 oz (1 pkg) frozen vegetarian chicken
3 T pesto
splash of beer or wine (or any liquid really; its just to moisten things up a bit)
olive oil for sauteeing

1 c baby bellas, sliced
3 T minced garlic (about 15 cloves)
olive oil for sauteeing
splash of beer or wine
1 t dried rosemary
1/2 c ricotta
about 1 c good mozzarella, shredded

20 sheets phyllo dough, 9″x14″
4 T melted butter (or more)

1 c grape tomatoes
1 T balsamic vinegar
pinch of sugar or drizzle of honey

Heat oil in two different saucepans; add vegetarian chicken to one and the sliced baby bellas to the other.

In another, dry saucepan, toast pine nuts on low until you can just start to smell them (watch carefully, as pine nuts go from raw to perfect to burnt in a matter of seconds). Combine toasted pine nuts with chopped sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts and set aside.

When the chicken is nearly done, stir in the pesto and a splash of beer or wine (we used only the best — Pabst Blue Ribbon!) and set aside.

Add dried rosemary and a splash of beer or wine to mushrooms and cook until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, stir in ricotta, and set aside.

Okay, now for the tricky part. Remember, when working with phyllo, it’s best to keep your unused sheets covered with a damp (but not wet) paper towel or dishcloth. Lay 4-5 sheets of phyllo dough on a baking sheet, one at at a time, with a brushed-on layer of melted butter between each sheet. Spread the pesto chicken out so that it covers the dough completely.

Add another 4-5 sheets of phyllo and melted butter and then create another layer using the mushroom-ricotta mixture. Top with shredded mozzarella, and then another 4-5 sheets of phyllo and melted butter.

Layer the artichoke heart-pine nut-tomato mixture and then top with the final 4-5 sheets of phyllo. Top with melted butter so that it browns up nicely in the oven, and also sprinkle a few drops of cold water around the edges (this will prevent them from curling up during baking).

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, then lower heat to 300 degrees and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until top is golden brown.

While this bakes, you can make your balsamic tomato reduction. In a saucepan, heat grape or cherry tomatoes, splash of balsamic vinegar, and pinch of sugar or drizzle of honey on low to medium heat until tomatoes break apart and reduce to about half their original size. The sauce will be ready to serve after about 10 minutes, but the longer you cook it, the richer it gets, and we usually let it simmer for at least a half hour and as much as an hour.

Cut phyllo bake into eight lasagna-sized pieces. Top with a spoonful of tomato sauce (or less, depending on how long you let it simmer), a daub of pesto, some fresh basil leaves, half a grape tomato, and some freshly ground black pepper. YUM. Serves 8.

NUTRITIONAL INFO (per serving):
187 cals (29 from fat)
5.81 g fat
143 mg sodium
22.5 g carbs
9.7 g protein

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Topics: recipe, vegetarian recipes

One Response to “better-late-than-never savory phyllo bake”

Sophie Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 11:05 am

We would like to feature this recipe on our blog. Please email sophiekiblogger@gmail.com if interested. Thanks :)

You can view our blog here:
http://blog.keyingredient.com/

 

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