Les Fila au Fromage

[Guest guest]

Small Cheese Triangles or Cigars

(makes about 60)

 

 

 

These ever-so-light little pies, also known as filikas, ojaldres, and

feuilletes, were always among the most popular items on the buffet

and tea tables of Oriental Jews. Today people mix all kinds of

cheeses for the filling — most often feta with Gruyere or cottage

cheese and Parmesan. ( I made 240 of these cheese triangles for my

daughter Anna's 30th birthday party while watching four programs over

2 weeks. I put them in the freezer -- uncooked and without brushing

them with egg glaze — and baked them on the day straight from the

freezer.)

 

½ lb (250 g) Edam, grated

½ lb (250 g) Gouda, grated

½ lb (250 g) Cheddar, grated

½ lb (250 g) cottage cheese

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 lb (500 g) filo

6 oz (175 g) butter, melted

4 tablespoons sunflower oil

2 egg yolks, to brush the tops

 

 

Mix the cheese with the eggs. Cut the filo dough, brushing the pastry

strips with a mixture of melted butter and oil and the tops with egg

yolk mixed with 1-2 teaspoons water.

 

Variations

 

• Add 3 tablespoons finely chopped dill or mint to the filling and

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.

• Sprinkle with 1/2 cup sesame seeds before baking.

• For an alternative filling, mix 1 lb (500 g) cottage cheese with 1

lb (500 g) feta cheese (both drained of their liquid) and 4 eggs.

• In Turkey and Greece, where the pastries are called filikas and

ojaldres de keso, they mix feta cheese with Gruyere and fry the pies

in oil.

 

 

 

The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York (with

more than 800 Ashkenazi and Sephardi recipes) by Claudia Roden (New

York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997). Reprinted by permission of the

publisher.

Claudia Roden travels extensively as a food writer. She has

published several prize-winning books on cookery and received Italy's

two most prestigious food prizes for her London Sunday Times Magazine

series " The Taste of Italy. "