Adapted from The Urban Picnic
Tis’ the season of wrapping perfectly picked gifts in festive tissue and sparkly ribbon. Which also means it’s time to pull out the phyllo and whip up delicious crowd-pleasing holiday appies.
You only need a few ingredients to get a tasty result with this pear and chevre appetizer. To make them even more enticing, we tracked down a brand of phyllo pastry made with spelt flour (The Fillo Factory)! Imagine our excitement in being able to share these with the wheat-free partygoers? Make ahead and transport on a pan to your party to re-heat just before serving.
Spelt is an ancient grain and distant relative of wheat. Like wheat, it does contain gluten, but far less of it – enabling many people with wheat sensitivities to eat spelt without negative symptoms. It’s also higher than wheat in both protein and B complex vitamins and its high water solubility makes spelt easier to digest.
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 Bartlett or Anjou Pears
2-4 Tbsp coconut oil (or butter) melted
Salt & pepper to taste
4 oz (125g) chevre (soft goat cheese)
8 sheets of spelt phyllo pastry, thawed
Handful of walnuts (optional)
Honey to taste
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Slice two pears in half and core each side. Place pear halves “face” down on a baking sheet, brush with half of the melted coconut oil or butter and season with salt and pepper.
3. Roast the pears in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until tender (easily stabbed with a fork) and golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly while you prepare the phyllo sheets.
4. Fold each sheet of phyllo pastry lengthwise twice (so that they're a quarter of their original width) and brush with the remaining melted coconut oil/butter.
5. Slice the pears thinly and place one slice on each phyllo sheet (to form 8 triangles), top with 1 Tbsp of goat cheese on each, a squeeze of honey and a few pieces of walnut (if you like, we sure do!) Fold the pastry over the cheese and pear, forming a triangle (or rectangle) shape with each. Just settle for whatever shape you can manage – the phyllo can be a bit finicky and a rectangle will taste just as good as a triangle!
6. Place all 8 triangles on the baking sheet and put back in the oven for 12 minutes (until they’re golden brown and slightly puffed).
7. Serve as an appy on small plates with arugula, walnuts and a drizzle of honey.
The Urban Picnic by John Burns & Elisabeth Caton is a collection of recipes, history, trivia and even food safety and picnic tips all pertaining to food in the city.
