Filo Triangles with Spiced Lamb
Greek style spinach triangles made with added feta and/or ricotta cheese were a popular finger food when I was cooking for functions in the 1990s, a tasty vegetarian menu option for those can’t resist the crunch of buttery pastry. After travelling in Turkey, curiosity about Middle Eastern home style cooking led me to a small book crammed with interesting recipes, “Tamarind & Saffron” by Claudia Roden who devotes a whole section to savoury fillings to encase in filo, inspiration for both this lamb recipe and the Spiced Chard Triangles.
The Filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon grated root ginger
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
250g lean minced lamb
1 tomato chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground sumac
½ teaspoon crushed dried red chillis
2 tablespoon currants
1 tablespoon pine nuts
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat the oil in a pan, then sauté the ginger and garlic for a few minutes. Add the lamb , crumbling it with the back of a fork. Fry until well browned. Add the tomato then the spices. Cook until all the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the currants and nuts and season well with salt and pepper. Cool
To make the triangles: see photos step 1-6
1 packet filo pastry, at least 12 sheets
30mls Melted butter and/or 30mls vegetable oil (you need about 60mls)
Paprika
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Lay the filo on the worktop and cover with a piece of plastic wrap and a dampened cloth. Remove only one sheet at a time. Melt the butter and add the oil.
Brush a sheet of pastry with butter or oil and fold lengthways into three. Place a generous teaspoon full of spinach mixture at the left had corner then fold the pastry into triangle shape along the length. Seal the end of the triangle with a dab of butter or oil. Continue like this until the filling mixture is used. Brush the tops with butter or oil, dust with paprika and bake until puffed and golden, about 10 minutes. Uncooked triangles can be frozen to bake at a later date directly from the freezer.
Do not roll the triangles too tightly or fill them too full as they will burst in the oven. Makes 12
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 