Phyllo and Me!...............

I love phyllo and use it without any trepidation. It can give you fast and easy dishes that most will think are complicated and work intensive yet nothing could be easier..... sure, if you're not used to handling the feather light, delicate sheets it might seem like too much but never fear, you'll see just how easy and rewarding it can be.

In our modern world we can find quality Phyllo dough (along with it's cousin, Puff Pastry) right there in the frozen dessert isle! Can't be easier than that.... The box contains 1 lb separated in 2 8oz bags which have more than enough sheets to complete any project you can come up with and once you see the results, you will be able to "see" many other ways to use it.....

One of the easiest things you can make is "Strudel".... yes, tasty and flaky, crunchy and sweet. Yum! A few ingredients and you're ready.... so here we go.

1 box Phyllo Pastry (using 1 8z bag)
1 stick butter, melted
sugar (regular granulated kind or you can use cristalized)
Filling (your choice, see below)
Cream Cheese (optional)

That's it, with these few ingredients you'll be able to whip up a great dessert quickly. You should have your filling done in advance so here are some suggestions: Now don't think that you can't use some ready-made fillings if you're not up to making them from scratch, they're fine, but I like home-made better.....

Apple Filling:
4 Granny Smith Apples (or any other tart apple), peeled and cored cut in thin segments
Raisins or Prunes (optional, cut up the prunes)
Nuts (Walnuts, Almonds, optional)
1-2 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Nutmeg (or some scrapings from the nut)
2 tbl butter
1/2 cup sugar

Put butter in pan, begin to melt over med-high heat. Add apples and everything else and allow to come up to heat, while stirring. Notice my quantities are "eyeballed", add more or less depending on your taste, it's fine. You'll notice that the apples will begin getting soft and the spices have turned into a brown sauce kind of. Allow to cook about 10-15 min, it will smell wonderful, stir and turn off the heat. Your filling is ready.

You can use any fruit you like, like this procedure. You can use frozen fruit as well. Just chop into smallish pieces so it's easy to serve and eat. Combinations of fruits are great. Use bananas with a little rum and cinnamon, nuts and sugar; strawberries, cream cheese and sugar; figs, sugar and nuts; mangoes and orange; blueberries and cream, blackberries..... anything at all you like.

To make the Studel: Get a baking sheet or cookie sheet and spray with PAM or something similar. Lay out the Phyllo on our work surface and cover with a clean towel. Take ONE sheet, gently and lay down, now "paint" the phyllo sheet and paint it, evenly, with your basting brush; sprinkle the sheet with sugar. Take another sheet and repeat this process for 6 sheets. You don't need to brush and sprinkle the last sheet. You're ready for the filling.

Note: I thought the Phyllo was a little on the smallish size (I remember they're being larger) so I laid on sheet down horizontally, then put another one, overlapping the first about 1/4 of the way lengthwise to make it a bigger size, then I brushed the butter and put the sugar on this, ok?

Put your filling down the middle of the Phyllo square in a long line which is about 1/3 the width of the Phyllo. You will need to fold over the Phyllo sides to cover this so leave room for this. I put slices of Cream Cheese down the middle of the pastry first and laid the filling over this, but this was just my choice, you can do this or not, it's ok.

Now overlap one side of the Phyllo over the filling to cover it all. Ok? Brush more butter over all this and sugar it. Now put the last side of Phyllo over this one, enclosing the filling completely and butter and sugar this as well. Now you've got a filled roll, right? Brush more butter over top and sprinkle more sugar on this too. You could sprinkle more cinnamon if you like. Now make diagonal cuts alonside the roll going lengthwise showing serving sized sections and to open the roll up so it won't explode (it won't but better safe than sorry right? it would make a mess in the oven which I hate to clean!) Cuts are about 1 1/2 inches from each other more or less.

Bake in pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 10-15 min until the top is golden brown and lovely. I usually turn it around after 10 min and give it an additional 5 min to allow both sides to get equally browned, but my oven is very "squirrely" so......
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Following in this same line you can use Phyllo to make Spanakopita, which is a Spinach-Feta casserole and lay some sheets on the bottom, butter them, make about 6 sheets. Lay a mix of Spinach & Feta, salt & pepper, a little almonds on there then cover with more Phyllo (all in a casserole pan, with PAM), then Ricotta or Cottage Cheese with Egg, salt and pepper, some herbs, more Phyllo sheets, more Spinach, Phyllo. Bake the same way and enjoy!

You can also make strips from the Phyllo about 3 inches wide, use the Spinach Feta mix and butter about 3 of these strips down, put a tbl of the Spinach mix on the bottom, overlap the Phyllo (left edge over to make a triangle, like folding a flag, remember?) and roll it all the way up. Butter it well and place on a baking sheet. These little turnovers will be fabulous! I also make them Feta only (since we are mad over Feta) and are incredible!!!!!! Or Shrimp-Feta, Zuchini-Feta or use any combination and cheese you like best..... Amazing and great for parties!

You like Napoleons? They're easy with Phyllo. You use 3 sheets (butter/ sugar like usual) cut into squares, lay on baking sheet and bake. Fill with whipped cream and fruit, make 2 stories high, and sprinkle top with powdered sugar over a sieve. Done! Can't be easier......

The good thing about this is that using Phyllo can be sweet or salty and whatever you like is fine. Sure, you can be traditional.... but the sky's the limit and anything goes! Plus it looks amazing and hard to do, it will impress anyone..... Go ahead and play with your food...... It's fun and I'm all for anything fun......