Pretty Darn Good

On Christmas I made a tasty savory baklava. The casserole took about two thirds of a package of filo dough, and I froze the rest for a future use.

 Tuesday night I was having trouble figuring out what to have for dinner on Wednesday. There was a head of red cabbage in the refrigerator, and I wondered if I could somehow pair it with the filo. The internet was full of recipes for the two ingredients, but most of them were variations of the same recipe, which I decided was too much work for me. I decided to recreate the baklava with a different filling. The filo needed to thaw in the refrigerator for 12 hours, so I did that on the way to bed.

I chopped vegetables in the morning before I left for the gym, then waited until mid-afternoon to start cooking. The original recipe had two different mixtures but I chose to mix everything together. After sauteing the onion and garlic I added chopped cabbage, broth, and spices (cumin, chili powder, and salt/pepper) and simmered until the cabbage was soft. I drained the cabbage, then tossed in a can of black beans, some chopped walnuts, golden raisins, and breadcrumbs. When the mixture cooled I added some crumbled feta.

I figured out that half of a filo sheet was large enough to cover a 13x9 pan. The secret to wonderful layers of filo is melted butter in between each sheet. After the base was in pace I dumped half of the filling on top, then repeated the process of filo and filling, adding a top layer of filo sheets. The final step was to cut the baklava into pieces and sprinkle with sesame seed. After 45 minutes in the oven dinner was ready.

Six servings equals three meals

This batch of baklava was a little crumbly, but it still tasted wonderful. We had leftovers tonight and I froze the last two pieces for an easy dinner down the line.

Five years ago: Digital Dactylogram