Festive Feta Fillo Cigars
2019-11-27
The best part of holiday entertaining is mingling and gathering with family and friends, not spending the entire night cooking in the kitchen. Our herbed Feta Fillo Cigars are a deliciously savoury, make-ahead Christmas appetizer, perfect for holiday parties.
To prepare this appetizer, you’ll be separating the work into two – the tapenade dip and the cigars themselves.
To make the tapenade, add 1 cup of Krinos Pitted Kalamata olives, ¼ cup of capers, 2 tbsp of chopped fresh parsley, 2 tbsp of Krinos Olive Oil and 1 clove of minced garlic to a food processor and blend. Pulse until fairly smooth and refrigerate until party-time. We dare you not to eat the entire mix with a spoon – it’s that good.
The tapenade can be made hours (and even a day) before; the longer it sits, the more the flavours will develop.
To make the Feta Fillo Cigars, you only need a few ingredients: Krinos Fillo Pastry Sheets, of course, minced garlic, Krinos Dried Oregano and Krinos Bulgarian Feta Cheese Multi-Pack. We suggest Bulgarian Feta for its creamy texture.
To start, preheat the oven to 350ºC.
In a small bowl, combine salt, melted butter and minced garlic. Slice both 100gr portions of Bulgarian Feta multi-packs into 0.5 cm sticks – you should get about 16 pieces.
Brush one sheet of fillo with the garlic butter and sprinkle with oregano. Top with a second sheet of fillo and top with garlic butter again. Cut buttered fillo sheets into four squares – half widthwise and lengthwise. Repeat with remaining fillo sheets until you have 16 rectangles. Now you’re ready to roll.
On each fillo square, lay a strip of feta along one of the short edges, fold the in the edges of the fillo on each side of the fillo stick and roll into a cigar shape. (Think: burrito making)
Place each cigar seam side down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining fillo and feta.
A few minutes before your guests arrive, brush each cigar with remaining garlic butter and bake for 15 minutes or until fillo is golden brown. Meanwhile, scoop out the tapenade from the refrigerator.
Serve fillo cigars warm alongside tapenade dip. They’re crunchy and comforting and the tapenade adds quite the zing.
Want to kick it up a notch? Add a side of warm spicy honey (warm honey with chili flakes) for even more oohs and ahhhs.
And now you can enjoy your party!
Tip: Make the cigars in advance and freeze. Simply defrost before baking.
For the full recipe, visit krinos.ca/recipes/feta-fillo-cigars.
