Description
Embrace the notion that you can pretty much stuff anything into phyllo and it comes out tasty and delicious.
Ingredients
Scale
- 5 cups of crumbled feta
- 1 bunch fresh mint
- 1 lemon, preferably organic
- 1 large egg, more if needed
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound packet of phyllo defrosted and at room temperature extra virgin Greek olive oil for brushing the phyllo strips
Instructions
- Place the feta in a bowl. Remove the stems from the mint and finely chop the leaves. Mix the mint into the feta. Zest the lemon in the bowl with the feta-mint mix. Lightly beat the egg in a small bowl and add it to the mix, as well. Mash everything with a fork and add some black pepper.
- Cut the phyllo in half lengthwise and stack it. It’s important to keep it covered with a tea towel so it doesn’t dry out while you work.
- Take the first strip of phyllo and brush it with olive oil. Fold it in half lengthwise and brush the surface with olive oil. Take one small teaspoonful of the feta mix and shape it into a small ball. Place it in the middle bottom part of the phyllo strip and fold the right corner up to the left side to form a right triangle. Next, fold it up along the horizontal seam joining the tip to the right side, forming a right triangle again. Continue folding from left to right until you reach the top. If you’ve ever folded a flag, it’s the same technique.
- Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, continue with remaining strips and filling, and brush the tops of each triangle with a little olive oil.
- Experiment with different shapes: Using the same filling, create a spring roll (cylindrical) shape or small packets. Experiment with a seed or nut topping: brush the surface of the triangles or cylinders with an egg-white wash and dip into seeds of choice (poppy, coriander, sesame, nigella, etc.). You can even drizzle these with Greek honey after they’re baked.
- Bake the tyropitakia in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until they’ve puffed up and golden.
