I had a lovely surprise when Nouvelle Mushrooms delivered a box of their beautiful exotic mushrooms as a generous thank you for taking part in their Blogger Indaba recipe contest.
They grow a fantastic range of mushrooms which includes Shiitake, King Oyster, Oyster, Enoki, Shimeji and porcini Mushrooms. And with the exceptional quality, deciding how to prepare them becomes quite difficult as there are just too many ways to enjoy them.
I finally decided to go completely vegetarian and made these delicious Mushroom Phyllo Rolls. I think phyllo can make any dish a bit more festive, so these will be great for a family meal or for any kind of occasion where you want to serve something a bit more special.
Food is not just about taste but also about colour and texture. In this dish the wilted spinach and roasted peppers not only add flavour but also beautiful colour while the pastry adds a necessary crunchy texture. The spinach and peppers can easily be swapped out for grilled baby marrows (zuchini), roasted butternut squash or any other vegetable of your choice. Just keep different colours in mind and that the vegetables must not be too wet when going into the roll.
Ingredients
- 4 sweet peppers
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1ts thyme leaves
- 1tbs olive oil
- a knob of butter
- 750g mushrooms of your choice, roughly chopped
- 1tb brandy
- salt and cracked black pepper
- 200g baby spinach
- 2 disks feta cheese
- 8 sheets phyllo pastry - keep them under a damp tea towel to prevent drying out
- melted butter for brushing the pastry
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C
- Place the peppers on a baking sheet in the top third of the oven and roast for 30 - 40 minutes until soft and the skin is blackened in patches.
- Remove from the oven and place in a seal-able plastic bag and let the peppers sweat in their own steam for 10 minutes (makes it easier to remove the skin).
- Remove the skin and pips and cut each pepper into 3 strips and set aside.
- Reduce the oven temp to 180 degrees C.
- Melt the butter in the oil in a large saucepan.
- Add the onion and garlic and fry over a medium heat until soft.
- Add the mushrooms and brandy and fry until all the liquid has evaporated.
- Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
- Bring a pot of water to the boil and plunge the spinach into the boiling water. Remove from the boiling water immediately and refresh the spinach under ice cold water. Drain and squeeze all the remaining water from the spinach so that it is as dry as possible.
- Take one sheet of phyllo and brush with melted butter. Repeat until you have 4 sheets on top of each other.
- Place half the spinach on the edge of the sheet closest to you - leaving 2 cm on each side uncovered.
- Top with half of the peppers.
- Top the peppers with half of the mushrooms - try not to include any liquid from the pan.
- Crumble one feta disk on top of the mushrooms.
- Roll the pastry like you would a swiss roll, tucking in the edges as you roll so none of the filling escapes.
- Place on a baking tray with the seam below.
- Repeat the process with the other 4 sheets of pastry and other halves of the filling.
- Brush the rolls with some more melted butter and bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown and serve.
