arysteia | Recipe: Fillo Triangles (with a range of fillings)

In honour of Day 13 of

14valentines. Today's subject is arts and athletics. There's an essay on the subject here.

Personally, I find making triangles a pain, and since my family's huge I generally cheat and make massive square pies in a roasting pan. For light hors d'oeuvres, though, nothing beats the real thing. They also bring the kudos, which occasionally is what we want.

Fillings:

Cheese

2 eggs, well beaten
½ lb (250g) cottage cheese
½ lb (250g) feta, crumbled
pepper

Mix ingredients, cover and set aside till needed.

Meat

1 lb (500g) lean beef mince (ground beef)
1 small onion, finely minced
2 tsp tomato paste
2 tsp parsley
salt and pepper

Saute meat until pink is gone. Mix in remaining ingredients. Cover and chill for one hour.

Seafood

1 lb canned shrimp/crab/lobster
2 large leaves cabbage
2 stalks celery
1 tsp parsley
salt and pepper

Chop cabbage and celery and saute until tender. Add to drained seafood. Season, cover and chill.

Chicken

2 chicken breasts, finely diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 small onion, finely minced
2 tsp parsley
salt and pepper

Saute all ingredients, season and chill.

Pastry:

1 lb fillo
¼ lb butter, melted

Grease a cookie pan or baking tray with butter, then spread out your fillo on it. Cut the fillo into thirds lengthwise -- you should wind up with three long strips-- it's easiest using kitchen scissors.

Cover two thirds with a damp teatowel while you work with the third. Fillo dries out fast, so be as quick as you can.

Using a pastry brush, butter the top sheet in your pile of thirds. Then place a heaped teaspoon of your chosen filling about an inch or so from the right hand end. Fold the lower corner over the filling to make a triangle. Then fold the upper corner straight to the left to make the next triangle. Repeat until you reach the end of the strip, at which point you should have a triangle. (Visualise folding up a flag.) You might need to add a bit more butter at the end to make sure it's sealed.

Position your finished triangles on the greased sheet, then bake at 350 F (180 C) for about fifteen minutes, or until golden.

The quantity of pastry given is enough for any two of the fillings. Double it if you want to try all four, or halve it if you only want to try one. This quantity would give you about thirty triangles, depending on how tightly you packed them. Don't overfill, or they tend to burst!

Enjoy!