Fun With Filo!

As I lay in my bed yesterday afternoon hung over from a fabulously delicious Christmas Party the night before (by-the-way I walked home with my hubby in the snow up our hill in high heeled shoes and lived to write about it) I had lots of time to think about and pour over heaps of magazines to inspire me for the upcoming season. All of a sudden I was inspired, thanks to the culinary blog, Chocolate and Zucchini which was born in Paris, to make a filo pastry roll stuffed with whatever my refrigerator gifted me. All I've ever heard about was that filo was hard to work with. I've determined that it would be hard if you are somewhat of a perfectionist. Unlike me, I didn't mind accidentally ripping a few slices and coddling and molding it into the roll with the help of a little olive oil - which is also deliciously therapeutic for dry hands! After a few sips of wine and a damp tea towel I was able to make friends with this sensitive pastry and handle her with the same kid gloves one might do with a high maintenance member of the family. Since I come from a long line of high maintenance folk, I instinctively knew how to handle filo. So I took some filo pastry out of my freezer and let it thaw out for a few hours.

Once thawed I carefully unrolled one slice at a time, with of course a generous work space (remember, this pastry needs her space). Pardon me for saying, but filo aka (her) isn't so tough but instead rather a rather sensitive, flimsy and fabulously low in fat and calories. Combine the following ingredients in a bowl first: 1/2 cup of Ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup of peach chutney, 1/2 cup of mixed cheese, 1 tbsp. pepper, 1 tsp. of salt (I used Kosher), 2 cups of cut up chicken, 2 sliced green onion, 1 small onion sauteed with butter. Once the mixture is ready, carefully lift your first layer of filo and lay it over your workspace. ****Remember to cover the waiting filo pastry with a damp tea towel. With each layer cover in 1 tsp. of olive oil. I continued layering an additional four layers, spreading each layer with olive oil, before spreading the mixture. Once your layers are down begin spreading the mixture beginning in the centre and moving outward leaving one to two inches around the sides. Then top with another four or five layers of filo repeating the same process. Now, wrap it all up like a jelly roll and cover once again in a little olive oil and transfer it to a baking sheet. Bake in a 400 deg. oven for about 20 minutes or until nice and brown. Make sure you put the seam side down or else the filling could leek out. Here is another nice filling you might want to do:

1/2 cup of Ricotta cheese, 2 cups of sliced artichoke hearts, 1/2 cup of oily drained sun dried tomatoes, 1/2 cup of sliced olives.