There are times when you come across a meal so unforgettable you’d want to recreate it and show it off to your friends. You take a bite, experience the sensation of different tastes exploding inside your mouth and leaves you wondering how can someone be so creative to come up with a dish that wonderful.
So when a bunch of girlfriends suggested we have a little girly dinner (that turned out into an impromptu friends gathering… not that we’re complainingit was excellent!), I quickly jumped in my cook’s shoes and started planning the menu. This roast vegetables with feta on filo pastry was the first choice for the entry – it was different, exciting and yet still utterly delicious. I first came across this dish from a cafe in Clovelly late 2009 when I was out in the area for work. It was an exhausting day, and I can remember all I wanted to do was tuck into a greasy meal of comfort food. It has been a long morning, and my colleague and I have been dying of starvation and needed a quick lunch. The cafe was the first one we saw with easy parking in the wretched Eastern Suburb carpark, so we quickly took the spot and walked into the cafe. And well… you know… the rest was history with this dish!
Roast Vegetables & Feta Salad in Filo Pastry
Makes approximately 12 small cases
Half a medium sized butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into small pieces
250g mushrooms, washed and sliced thinly
250g cherry tomatoes, cut in half
250g feta cheese
1 onion, chopped finely
Filo pastry sheets
Dried mixed herbs flakes (or dried oregano, thyme, rosemary flakes)
Salt and freshly cracked pepper
Olive oil
Oil spray
1. Preheat oven to 250 deg C. Peel and slice pumpkin.
2. In a flat baking tray, spread the sliced pumpkin. Add mixed herbs, salt and pepper and drizzle generous amount of olive oil. Bake pumpkin for 20 minutes or until soft and cooked. Remove from oven once cooked.
3. Meanwhile, mix together mushrooms, onions and tomatoes. Add mixed herbs, salt and pepper and drizzle some olive oil. Set aside.
4. Cut the filo pastry into small squares big enough to cover the holes of a 12 hole muffin tray. Line the muffin tray and spray each with oil spray.
5. Put a tablespoon or there abouts of the mushroom and tomatoes mix on the greased filo pastry. Bake for 15 minutes or until filo pastry turns into golden brown (but not burnt!).
6. Remove from oven, top with cooked pumpkin and crumbled feta cheese, and serve warm. Enjoy!
At the risk of tooting my own horn, I must say that this is one of the most excellent experiments I’ve done by far. It was extremely tasty, healthy and something new to add to my (and hopefully my friends’ too!) recipe index cards!
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