Fyllo and mushroom nests with feta pesto

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These days, it’s my favourite recipe: sautéed mushrooms snuggled in fyllo pastry nests!

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The fyllo nest is playful, crispy delicious and light and fun to make too! Those who enjoy it always take a second to admire its beauty before devouring it because, let’s face it, this can be a daily…stunner!

The final dish looks harder than it actually is to make this easy cases since the fyllo nests are baked separately before the mushrooms are added to it.

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To serve, you balance the nest on top of some feta pesto spread out on a plate.

You fill the nest with some yummy, garlicky sautéed mushrooms. (Or with some mixed greens salad with Roquefort or salmon, or spicy cheese dip, or…or…or…the list is as endless as your imagination!)

And there’s a bonus to creating these nests…you can prepare them the previous day, preserve them at room temperature so the crust remains crispy, and then fill them in just before serving.

The feta pesto can also be prepared the day before. Only the mushroom filling has to be cooked last minute.

Fyllo and mushroom nests with feta pesto

Ingredients:
  • 1 packet fyllo pastry (8 sheets)
  • 1 cup olive oil, plus a little extra for brushing on top of each fyllo sheet
  • 1 cup coarsely crushed spicy feta
  • 1 bunch parsley (only the leaves)
  • a few basil or arugula leaves
  • 3 cloves of garlic, at least…
  • a shot of red or white wine
  • 1 packet Portobello, 1 packet pleurotus, a few wild mushrooms (2-3 cups) or one sachet porchini (dried mushrooms, but soak them in lukewarm water for 5 minutes for extra taste) OR only use one type of mushroom – your choice
  • salt and pepper
  • a little thyme or mint
  • a portion of feta pesto

Preparing the nests:

Preheat a fan-assisted oven at 180 C/356 F.

Lightly oil a muffin tray with 12 moulds or, even better, mini muffins.

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Generously oil four sheets of fyllo pastry and place one on top of the other. First cut vertically down the middle, then cut horizontally in three equal parts. This way you’ll have 6 squares – these, joint and oiled together, will each become a nest.

Repeat the above procedure with the remaining four fyllo pastry sheets, so you’ll now have 12 squares/12 fyllo nests.

Gently pick up each square and place in the muffin receptacles pressing lightly until each square creates a nest shape.

With oiled fingers, lift the pastry corners and, if they don’t stand upright, cut a small bit off. (If they fold over a little, then don’t worry yourself with them…)

Wet your hands and shake them over the pastry nests (water makes the pastry crispier).

Bake for 10-12 minutes until they’re golden, but make sure the tips of the corners don’t brown too much.

Sautéing the mushrooms:

In a non-stick frying pan, sauté the mushrooms with half a cup of olive oil over a high heat. Cut the mushrooms in thick slices and use at least two cloves of garlic.

Once the mushrooms have soaked up their own juices, add your wine of choice and continue cooking over a high heat until the mixture is quite dry.

Remove the mushrooms from the fire, add a little thyme or mint, and grind plenty of pepper on top.

Serving:

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Spoon a generous portion of feta pesto onto a plate (enough so that, once the nest is placed on top, you can still see the pesto underneath it) and rest a fyllo nest on top.

Fill each nest with the mushrooms and sprinkle with a little bit of coarsely chopped arugula or finely chopped parsley, or olive oil and pepper.

ΑΦΗΣΤΕ ΜΙΑ ΑΠΑΝΤΗΣΗ

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