It’s flaky. It’s tender. It’s sweet. It’s savory. There is a bit of a sour feta bite.
It’s wonderful.
This is a riff on Greek Tiropita–layers of crisp and flaky phyllo dough stuffed with pungent feta cheese.
This recipe brings back memories of glorious stays in Greece.
Athens was one of the first places we visited in our travels. It was a Four Capitals Tour sold by the Broadway Department store. We visited London, Paris, Rome, and Athens. And so started our travel odyssey that took us to more than fifty countries.
Through it all, Greece remained a favorite. From Athens to Thessaloniki, Greece captured our imaginations and our hearts. The history! The ruins! The museums! The people! The tavernas! I would go back there in a heartbeat.
This particular recipe rekindles fond memories of sitting on the terrace of a bakery near our modest Hotel Plaza just off Victoria Square in Athens . Each morning we sipped potent Greek coffees and devoured freshly-baked tiropita and spanakopita as we watched Athens wake up. This quick little tiropita-esque recipe hits all the right taste and fond-memory notes. I’m not sure why you couldn’t omit the honey and make a tasty spinach version, too.
Here is a photo of me from those many years ago travels enjoying an Aristophanes play in the ancient Greek theatre at Epidaurus. I’m pretty sure I must have had a stash of phyllo pastries in that picnic bag. Maybe even a bottle of retsina.
This recipe is from Georgina Hayden’s cookbook Greekish: Everyday Recipes With Greek Roots. You can buy the cookbook through your local bookstore or at Amazon here..
Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.
Filo-Wrapped Feta With Spiced Honey
Ingredients
- 6 oz. feta slice
- 1 sheet phyllo
- Olive or avocado oil
- Sea salt and freshly-ground pepper
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 T. honey (or more)
- 1 t. red or white wine vinegar
- 1 T. water
- 1/2 t. Aleppo pepper or 1/4 t. dried red chile flakes
- 5 small sprigs of thyme
- Extra honey to drizzle over the final dish
Directions
- Step 1 Drain and dry the slice of feta. Press it to remove some of the liquid. Set aside.
- Step 2 Prepare the honey sauce for this recipe by combining a crushed garlic clove with the honey, vinegar and 1 T. of water. Add half for Aleppo pepper and half the thyme leaves. Set aside.
- Step 3 Paint the feta slice with oil.
- Step 4 Arrange the feta slice on the short edge of the phyllo sheet and fold the phyllo sheet into a packet, tucking in the edges of the phyllo before you make the last fold. ( You will have a lot of phyllo left. You can make more feta packages and freeze them or use the filo for another dish. The Mediterranean Greens and Phyllo Pie recipe on Blue Cayenne would be a good use. You can find that recipe here.)
- Step 5 Drizzle a few tablespoons of oil in a small frying pan. Heat oil. Fry the phyllo packet in the medium-hot oil until it is a pretty brown on all sides and crisp. This will take a couple of minutes on each side. Pour the honey mixture over the phyllo packet in the hot pan. The honey will bubble and reduce, so you will need to move quickly to spoon some of the sauce over the packet.Remove the packet from the pan and arrange on a plate. You can drizzle extra honey over the finished phyllo packet.
- Step 6 Serve the packet artfully arranged on a plate decorated with thyme sprigs and a bit of Aleppo pepper to your taste.
