Appetizers - Videos

Ingredients (makes 20-30 flaky pastries)

5 yellow onions, sliced into thin strips

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil

5 ounces feta cheese

Melted butter to brush over phyllo dough

How to make cheese and onion pastry appetizers

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 prunes, sliced lengthwise

1/3 cup Kalamata olives, sliced lengthwise

10 sheets phyllo dough

1. Thinly slice the onions. (To slice the onions, remove the top and bottom of the onion, and cut it in half lengthwise. Look at the grain of your onion and make sure you're cutting along the grain as opposed to around the equator. Once you've cut it in half, remove the skin and the slice the onion, making sure all your slices are a uniform thickness so that they cook evenly.)

2. Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot so that your onions don't burn, but just brown nicely as you cook them.

3. Add the onions. It may look like this is a lot of onions, but once they've cooked for 45 minutes they're really going to cook down.

4. Add the dried thyme, red pepper flakes, and salt.

5. Stir the onions until they're completely coated with oil and all the herbs and spices are mixed in. Once you've sauteed them for about a minute or so, put the lid on, lower the heat and allow them to cook for about 15 minutes.

6. After about 15 minutes, remove the lid and continue cooking them over medium heat, stirring frequently for about another 35 minutes. You want the onions to brown really nicely -- not burn, but take on a nice, caramel-brown color.

7. When the onions are well caramelized, add the prunes and the pitted Kalamata olives. Stir until well combined, and then cook for about another five minutes to make sure that the flavors have melded.

8. Remove to a bowl and allow the mixture to cool down.

9. Add the feta cheese and mix to make sure that it's very well combined.

10. Take one sheet of phyllo and lay it out on a cutting board. (You can buy phyllo at almost an grocery store in the frozen-food section. When you bring it home, put it in the refrigerator and allow it to thaw overnight. When you're ready to use it, open the package and lay it out on a tray. Phyllo dries out really quickly, so once you've laid it out you want to take a lightly damp cloth and lay it across the top of the phyllo so that it doesn't dry out while you're working with the other pieces. Phyllo is also very delicate, so you want to make sure that you handle it carefully.)

11. Brush it with a little bit of melted butter. You don't want to use too much butter or your triangles will end up having sort of a greasy flavor. But you want to get enough on there so that your phyllo doesn't dry out. You can use olive oil in places of the melted butter if you'd like to, but the butter really gives a nice favor.

12. Cut the sheet into thirds. Don't worry if it's not exact; just get it as close as you can.

13. Take a small amount of the cheese and onion filling and place it at the base of one of the strips, towards a corner. (You may be tempted to overfill the pockets at this point, but don't do that. If you overfill them, they may explode when you put them in the oven and bake them!)

14. Fold phyllo and filling up into a triangle shape. Make one fold, then tap it down a little bit so that it's even, and then spread out the filling. Continue folding up, much like you'd fold a flag, until you've created a little triangle.

15. Place the folded triangle on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and go on to the next triangles to use all the filling. Once you get the triangles completed, place them on the baking sheet and brush lightly with butter on the top.

16. Place in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes, until they've turned a golden brown on the top. Place your delicious, flaky cheese and onion pastry appetizers on a platter and serve. (If you're planning on freezing them, place them in the freezer before baking and make sure they are well-covered with plastic wrap so they don't take on any other flavors.)