Fig, Feta & Mint Filo Crackers
Here is a simple and fun idea. which would be wonderful as a little appetizer snack or even as an after-dinner treat. There are people who would rather enjoy a cheese-platter than a sweet dessert- and there are those that choose to go without. Well these paper-thin crackers are both sweet and savory and also refreshing with a hint of fresh mint. Very, very light, but just enough to enjoy with your digestif or espresso!
There really is no recipe here- simply an idea and ideas are what I am all about. I bought a pack of filo pastry yesterday and was contemplating what all the uses of a pastry could be that is thin enough to actually see through... and decided to make something where you did just that!
To make these, I simply sliced a fig and some feta cheese into the thinnest slices I could manage without them breaking. I also plucked a number of leaves of fresh mint ready to go with them. I took a sheet of filo pastry and lay out the cheese and fig slices across half of it and placed a mint leaf here and there in-between them, making sure that nothing overlapped. I then spread a very thin layer of honey onto the other half of the pastry and a very light sprinkle of salt.
Then I simply folded the pastry together and pressed it down. You have to move quickly as the pastry dries out very, very fast. Next, either using a brush or simply using your hands, apply a little water to the surface of the closed sheet of pastry- just a little, but enough to make the two layers stick.
These crackers are going to be very, very thin and fragile- if you prefer them to be a little thicker, simply use two layers of pastry. Bake at a moderate heat for around 10 minutes, until the cheese melts slightly and the figs soften up a little through the heat. Once they are golden brown, remove them from the oven and after a minute or so of cooling, cut into squares for serving. If you don't cut them whilst the pastry is still a little soft, they will be too crumbly later.
And that is all there is to it! Snacks don't come much easier or much more sophisticated than that, do they?
No comments:
Post a Comment