Vegetarian Phyllo Purses Recipes

SWEET CHEESE PHYLLO PURSES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Finely crumble the goat cheese with a fork in a medium bowl, then stir in the ricotta. Brush a 12-cup muffin pan with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter; set aside 1 tablespoon melted butter in a small bowl for step 3.
• Use the remaining 6 tablespoons butter for the phyllo sheets: Brush the top of a phyllo sheet all over with butter, then stack 3 more sheets on top, brushing each with butter. Cut the stack in half lengthwise, then crosswise into thirds to make 6 squares. Press each square into a muffin cup. Repeat with the remaining 4 phyllo sheets and melted butter.
• Divide the cheese mixture among the phyllo-lined muffin cups, pressing with a spoon to flatten the filling into the cups. Fold in the phyllo to cover the filling, leaving a little hole in the center to vent steam. Brush the tops of the dough with the reserved 1 tablespoon melted butter. Put the pan on the oven floor and bake until the phyllo purses are dark golden brown on the bottom, 5 to 8 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375˚ F; move the muffin pan to the middle oven rack and continue baking until the phyllo is golden brown and crisp on top, 30 to 40 minutes.
• Meanwhile, combine the sugar, water, cardamom and orange zest in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook, occasionally pressing on the cardamom pods with a spoon, until syrupy, about 8 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a liquid measuring cup. Stir in the orange juice.
• Remove the phyllo purses to a platter as soon as they come out of the oven. Spoon about half of the syrup on top. Let sit for a few minutes to soak in the syrup, then top with the pistachios. Drizzle with more syrup and serve warm.

CHICKEN AND LEEK BEGGARS PURSES

Steps:

• Combine all the ingredients for the crepe recipe, excluding the oil, in a bowl and whisk until smooth. The batter should be the consistency of heavy cream. Adjust with flour or water. Let the batter rest for 30 minutes before making crepes. Coat a crepe pan or saute pan with oil. Add enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook until the edges begin to curl and flip over for a few seconds to cook the other side. Remove to a plate and continue with remaining batter.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Saute the leeks in butter until translucent and cool in the refrigerator. Place the chicken in a food processor and puree until smooth. Transfer the chicken mixture to a bowl and fold in the remaining ingredients.
• Place about 1 tablespoon of chicken mixture in the middle of a crepe; pull the edges up to form a beggar's purse and tie with chive that has been blanched for 20 seconds in boiling water. Place the purses on a sheet-pan and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for approximately 5 minutes or until cooked through.

PHYLLO ONION AND DILL PURSES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large saute pan heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat.
• Add the onions to the pan, season with salt and pepper and saute gently over medium heat until the onions have caramelized to a rich golden brown, about 20 minutes.
• At the end of the cooking time add the fresh dill and pour the onions out onto a cookie sheet and allow to cool completely before proceeding on to the purses.
• On a clean and dry workspace lay out 1 sheet of phyllo and brush lightly with olive oil.
• Lay another sheet of phyllo on top of the first, brush with oil and repeat two more times. Using a pastry wheel, cut off the corners of the dough to achieve a sort of rounded shape.
• Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of the onion mixture into the center of the dough. Gather up the edge of the dough, pull towards the center to from the folds of the purse, and pinch the dough to
• seal the purse closed. Brush the outside of the purse with olive oil and repeat this purse making until the onions are all used.
• Place the finished purses on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes until crisp and brown.

PHYLLO PURSES

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add shallots, and cook over medium heat until translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in mushrooms, and cook until they are soft and all the liquid is absorbed, about 7 minutes. Stir in salt and pepper. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool. When cool, fold in the creme fraiche and chervil until combined. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay one sheet of phyllo on a clean work surface. Brush phyllo lightly with melted butter, and top immediately with a second sheet of phyllo. Brush again with butter, and top with a third sheet of phyllo. Repeat with remaining 3 sheets of phyllo. Using a pizza cutter, cut the stack of layered phyllo sheets into 24 four-inch squares.
• Place a teaspoon of mushroom filling in the center of each square. Carefully draw up the sides of the squares and pinch them together to seal in the filling. Place purses on the parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake until the edges are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool slightly. Tie a chive around each pinched phyllo purse, and top with 1/4 teaspoon caviar. Serve phyllo purses warm.

WARM APPLE AND APRICOT PHYLLO PURSES

Steps:

• Soak the apricots and the raisins in the 1 cup of white wine for 2 hours
• Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the wine
• Preheat the oven to 320 degrees F
• In a large skillet, melt the butter over a medium flame
• Add the 1/4 cup of white wine
• Add the apples and the drained apricots and raisins
• Saute for 3 minutes
• Add the juice of 1/2 an orange and 1/2 of the lemon into the skillet and continue sauteeing
• Add the brown sugar, mix well with the fruit
• Sprinkle with cinnamon and remove from the flame
• In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch with the juice of the remaining 1 1/2 oranges
• Stir vigorously until smooth
• Put the pan of fruit back on the flame
• Slowly add the cornstarch mix to the pan, stirring continuously
• The mixture should start to thicken and caramelize
• You want it to be sticky, not runny
• Remove from the heat
• Unwrap the phyllo dough and lay out the sheets
• Cut the layered stack lengthwise and widthwise to make 4 rectangular quarter-stacks of 12 sheets each stack
• Take one rectangular sheet, brush around the edges with the melted butter
• Lay the next sheet on top, but at an angle
• Continue doing this 4 more times for a pile of 6 sheets, each sheet at an angle to the one below it
• Place a small mound of fruit in the middle
• Top the fruit with a square of chocolate
• Lift one edge toward the middle, gathering and pleating the dough as you go around the pile, pulling the edges to the middle to form a purse
• Make 8 purses this way (8 piles of 6 sheets each)
• Brush and drizzle each purse with melted butter
• Place the purses on a parchment line cookie sheet
• Bake 10 minutes
• Raise the heat to 350 degrees F, and bake another 15 minutes until the purses are golden
• Serve warm
• If you make the sheets in advance, rewarm for a few minutes in the oven to warm the fruit and melt the chocolate

SPINACH, FETA, AND PHYLLO PURSES

Steps:

• In a heavy skillet cook the onion in 1/4 cup of the oil over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until it is golden, add the spinach, and cook the mixture, stirring, until it is combined well. Remove the skillet from the heat, stir in the Feta and the dill, and let the filling cool.
• Lay 1 sheet of the phyllo with a long side facing you on a work surface and brush it lightly with some of the remaining 1/4 cup oil. Lay another sheet and brush it lightly with some of the remaining oil. With a sharp knife cut the sheets lengthwise into thirds and cut each length crosswise into fifths, making 15 sections, each approximately 4 x 3 1/2 inches. Put a level teaspoon of the filling in the center of each phyllo section. Working with 1 section at a time gather the corners of th phyllo over the filling and twist the phyllo gently. Transfer the pastries to an oiled jelly-roll pan and make pastries with the remaining phyllo, oil, and filling, in the same manner. Bake the pastries in the lower third of a preheated 375°F. oven for 25 minutes, or until they are golden. The pastries may be baked 1 day in advance and kept covered loosely with plastic wrap and chilled. Reheat the pastries in a 375°F. oven for 10 minutes, or until they are heated through.