Olive and feta phyllo spirals
A light and refreshing mix of onion, mint, cheese and olives
I’m a phyllo addict. I can’t get enough of this light and buttery pastry. Whether it’s sweet or savory, I’m all in to enjoy it.
I’ve published my mom’s spanakopita recipe and a Persian spiced baklava, but this is my first time publishing the coiled version. This is the easiest way to get comfortable working with phyllo because the coiled shape hides any tears or flaws.
This recipe has a light and refreshing mix of onion, mint, cheese and olives. The use of mint may seem strange if you’re not familiar with Levantine cooking, but a little bit adds to the flavor and softens the sharpness of the cheese and olives.
The filling is on the lighter side. If you put too much into the rolled-up shape, the pastry will tear. You will get a nice amount of cheese in every bite, but don’t expect this to be oozing with filling. I think the ratio of flaky pastry to cheese is perfect.
Ingredients:
1 package phyllo pastry
2 sticks unsalted butter
A pinch sea salt
¼ cup olive oil
1 large onion, diced, about 2 ½-3 cups
5 scallions, thinly sliced, about 1 cup
½ teaspoon dried mint
1/16 teaspoon black pepper
1 ½ cups pitted olives, coarsely chopped
1 ½ cups crumbled feta cheese
1-1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella or muenster cheese
Optional garnish: sesame seeds
The first and most important step is to thaw the phyllo pastry dough overnight in the fridge, which will make it easier to work with.
Preheat your oven to 350 F, and place the wire rack in the middle.
Melt 2 sticks of unsalted butter in a small saucepan, then add in a pinch of salt. Salted butter can form burned milk solids when heated, which is why I use unsalted butter and add a little salt to flavor the pastry.
Dice the onion and slice the scallions, using every part except the rooted end.
Warm the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-low heat for a minute, then add the onion.
Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring every few minutes until the onion is translucent, then stir in the scallions and mint and cook for 1 more minute before removing the pan from the burner.
Prepare the olives and cheese while the onions are cooking. Choose your favorite olives. You can use any mixture of green or black olives as long as they are cured in salt/brine as opposed to red wine. I typically use a can of mixed Israeli olives, but I have made this with sliced green olives with pimentos, which gives it a good, but different, flavor. Remove any pits, coarsely chop the olives and go over them again with your fingers to make sure no pit fragments remain.
Mix the olives into the onion mixture, making sure the pan is cool to the touch before adding the feta cheese; you don’t want the cheese to melt before you prepare the pastry.
Stir in the pepper.
Do not add any salt to the filling because the feta and olives have more than enough salt to flavor this dish.
Put 1 cup of shredded mozzarella or muenster cheese into a separate bowl; you can add more to the bowl if you need it later.
You will need a pastry brush for this recipe; you can’t prepare the phyllo without one.
Take the phyllo from the fridge and cut the bag open.
Unfold the roll, lay it on a clean cutting board and immediately cover the pastry with a large, clean tea towel. Every time you take a sheet of pastry from the pile, immediately cover it with the towel. It should remain covered as you work on each separate coil.
If making individual coils, line a baking sheet with parchment paper before you begin to prepare the pastry. This recipe makes 9-10 individual coils. If you want to make a large spiral version, lightly butter round cake pans. You can use either two 8-inch pans or one 12-inch round pan. The only difference between these methods is that the pan coils need more time to bake. I made one 8-inch pan and five single coils, so I would have photos of both options.
Phyllo is very forgiving when baked, so if you have tears, just keep rolling; once you brush the spirals with butter, the tears almost always disappear once baked.
Phyllo comes in a rectangular shape. Take each piece to your work space and lay it out so it is wider from left to right than it is top to bottom.
Lightly brush the pastry sheet with butter.
Add 3-4 tablespoons of the olive mixture to the bottom edge of the pastry sheet.
Sprinkle the mixture across the bottom (there will be some gaps) before sprinkling the shredded cheese over the top of the filling. The shredded cheese will fill in the gaps and add texture to the filling, which also keeps it from oozing out when baking.
While the filling may look sparse, I assure you, it is enough. Adding more will tear the pastry and make it more difficult to roll.
Start at the bottom and gently roll the pastry sheet up until you get a long tube.
Gently roll the pastry into a spiral coil, tucking the end under the bottom to keep it in place while baking.
If you’re baking individual coils, it helps to bake them close together so they don’t lose their shape. If you’re making these in a pan, then coil the first one and place it in the center of the pan. Take the second piece, tuck one end into the previous coil and wrap it around the center until the pan is full. If you have an inch or so of space left around the edges, add one more piece to the pan to keep the coil tight.
Brush both versions with butter and add sesame seeds if desired.
Bake on the center rack of your oven. The individual coils take 30-35 minutes. The larger pan coils can take 45 minutes to over an hour. The top of the pastry should be lightly browned. The individual coils turn a darker brown since they are baked on a flat sheet.
For a crispier pastry, leave either version in the oven for a few more minutes, but be careful not to overdo it or the filling can leak out and burn.
Remove the pastry from the oven to cool. Individual coils should cool for 5-10 minutes before serving, and a pan coil should cool in the pan until it’s cool enough to lift out of the pan.
If you’re anxious about removing the coil, cut it in the pan. You can slice this version like a pie and remove it with a spatula to keep it from breaking apart.
I serve this with a Greek salad, stuffed grape leaves and hard-boiled eggs.
Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC
Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.
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