Filo Rolls with Roasted Green Chilli Pepper and Feta
Thanks to my dear blogging friend MJ and one of her numerous extremely tempting posts praising green chilli (or rather “chile” as they say in New Mexico), I finally embarked on the roasting adventure too. The process is quick, easy (even without a proper grill) and the ways of using roasted peppers seem countless. After the utterly delicious Chile Spread (see the recipe at MJ’s Kitchen), I decided to create something on my own and experiment with filo pastry rolls. Greek cuisine is not famous for its fiery dishes, nonetheless boldly flavoured feta cheese proved excellent company for roasted chilli! The mixture of the two ingredients is so satisfying, dried oregano was the only seasoning to make this chilli lovers’ treat perfect.
With their three-ingredient filling this filo pastry rolls are ridiculously easy to prepare, but most of you have probably never roasted chilli peppers, so I’ll share some of my impressions of the first batches. As I have mentioned above, roasting chilli is really quite effortless, even if one doesn’t have a grill, the oven broiler being a sufficient tool. As for the peeling, it is much quicker than expected and since, as MJ confirms, roasted chilli freezes very well, it’s a good idea to work with big batches and save some of the summer flavours for cold winter months.
The only problem (if you don’t live in New Mexico or other fiery food-loving regions) might be to find a medium hot chilli variety (even as a big fiery food fan I wouldn’t advise bird’s-eye-chillie or similar super hot varieties here). The only medium hot chilli I can buy here is aci sivri, a highly aromatic Turkish long green variety and it roasts and peels perfectly, so I guess any medium hot chilli will do.
For the detailed instructions and very useful chilli roasting tips, check MJ’s fascinating blog. I bet you will be tempted to try, just like me, lots of her inspiring recipes, most often influenced by New Mexican culinary heritage.
Some of you might have noticed I am a big filo/phyllo pastry fan and try to experiment with it as often as I can. Here are some ideas, in case you wonder what to do with the rest of the package:
Preparation: about 1 hour
Ingredients (makes 6 filo rolls):
6 sheets of filo/phyllo pastry
2 cups (about 500 ml) roughly chopped roasted, peeled chilli peppers
150 g feta cheese
1 tablespoon cracked wheat; this is the TIP I learnt from Katerina (Culinary Flavors), the specialist of Greek cuisine; this tiny amount of cracked wheat absorbs the excessive humidity, but doesn’t change the taste or texture; you can use for example semolina instead
1 tablespoon dried oregano
(1 tablespoon oil)
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Crumble the feta cheese in a bowl.
Add the chopped chilli and the oregano.
Mix delicately the filling, divide into six equal parts and fill the rolls (one sheet per roll; see the instructions here).
Place the rolls on a baking tray/sheet or a baking dish.
Brush with oil (this is not obligatory) and bake until slightly golden.
Nice bold flavours in the rolls.
Thank you.
Your filo rolls look awesome! No need to reshoot. They’ve made me hungry. So it sounds like you’re hooked on roasting green chilli (chile). 🙂 That’s thrilling! Roasted fresh green vs. dried red is like that green chile powder vs. red chile powder. Same pepper, but color and process makes the difference between night and day in flavor. If it were even close to being affordable, I would love to ship you some fresh NM chile. But I might have to sell my house to pay for the shipping. 🙂 Thanks so much for the kind and amazing shout out for my blog! You blew me away girl! Thanks!
Thank you so much for the compliments! I’m really having fun roasting chile! I will never thank you enough for encouraging me (and all your readers) to do it. I realise now what I’ve been missing all these years when I bought medium hot chile and didn’t roast it… Thank you for the kind words! If it was possible, I’d ship you so many fresh products too… I’d start with a huge box of French and Swiss cheese of course 🙂
What a great idea to roast the chillis Sissy. Just before we left to visit friends I just froze 6 green jalopenos because I didn’t know what else to do with them but when I return, I’ll definitely roast them! I love that you paired them with feta, such a delicious cheese. Your recipe is a lovely twist to the traditional Greek recipe.
Thank you so much, Eva.
I see that you have mastered using phylo as well! Beautiful rolls and the feta matches perfectly with the hot peppers. We have also here a particular variation of peppers which are hot. They are of medium size and resemble the green chillies. But to be honest I have never tried them cause I have a small issue with hot food!
Thank you so much, Katerina. You are very kind, but I haven’t mastered the filo really… hence the rolls instead of triangles, too complicated for my clumsy hands! I use it a lot though and really have fun putting sometimes very unusual ingredients inside. It works most of the time, which is amazing. I had no idea Greeks (at least some…) like hot peppers too! Thank you for letting me know.
Oh my goodness, the roasted chile must have been delicious in here with your feta… it reminds me of a NM version of spanakopita 🙂 I would eat these delightful bundles endlessly Sissi – such a great idea. I too have just recently started experimenting with roasted chili peppers (jalapenos) and made an avocado cream with them (well, at least that’s what I’m calling it). The roasting was easy and I did find it added some great flavor. Beautiful recipe and yes, great inspiration from MJ!
Thank you so much, Kelly. Your avocado cream sounds incredibly good… I must try making something similar too!