Filo Magic from 3 Hatted Oz Food Legend Janni Kyritsis
Sparkling Janni Kyritsis. Came to
Australia aged 23 speaking no English. From a simple family in Northern Greece, his backpack was stuffed with generosity, kindness and initiative. Started as
an Electrician and through encouragement from his partner David he slowly entered
the world of food. Worked with Gay Bilson, Stephanie Alexander. Started his own
restaurant MG Garage and earned 3 Hats in the first year. Recently honoured
with Legend Award from Good Food Guide. This is his Filo Magic in his own
words. Bear in mind that he is self- taught in English writing….
Janni on right after winning 2016 Food Legend Award from Good Food Guide
Filo Sweet or savoury filo
fingers.
In all my professional career I
have made my own filo.
I love the feel of it, the way it
stretches as thin as paper enough to read a news paper under it, the texture of
it, and of course it always remind me seeing members of my family making their
own filo with clouds of flour drifting
from the kitchen into the living
room.
Now that I left the commercial
kitchen behind and try to do all my cooking in my gully kitchen I rediscovered
the wonderful and so versatile commercial filo.
A packet of filo lasts for weeks
in the fridge but what I do, I open the filo flat
out of the packet and frieze it
in layers of 6 and 3 leaves. They defrost in a minute and ready to use. 2
leaves brushed with a light oil is enough for the bottom of a pie dish for 6
people, after I place the filling into the dish and fold the filo over the
filling then I put another oiled and torn in pieces leaf on top, it
gives an attractive look to the pie and certainly makes the pie very light
compare to the normal short crust or puff party.
Another way I have been using the
filo most regularly is to make rolled filo finger either sweet or savoury.
6 filo leaves will give you 24
fingers for coffee or drinks
No need for a recipe the list of
fillings is as long as all the ingredients you have got in your kitchen and
your imagination.
I have made mixtures with
nuts (walnuts, almonds, Pistachios, pine nuts,)
I have used dry fruits (raisins,
sultanas, apricots, citrus peels) orange or lemon rinds spices and sometime a
spoonful of honey to combine the mixture,
A jar of fruit mince I discovered
in the back of my kitchen cupboard the other day made a very nice filling.
For savouries I have used olives
cut in half and put in a layer, 3 anchovies
cut in half length wise is enough
for a roll, some feta pieces and herbs,
Strips of cheese and ham and so
on.
Here is what you do, start the
oven on 200c
Place a filo leaf in the table
use oil or butter and brush half of the leaf
Fold over the other half and
brush again,
Add a thin layer of filling on
the one end of the leaf and roll tightly
They should not be more than a
finger thick.
Place on a baking tray making
sure the end part stays underneath.
When they all finessed brush them
with oil or butter prick them in a few places so the steam escapes and
cook them for
approximately 25 minutes the will
look brown in the first 10 minutes,
don’t be tempt to remove them
from the oven too early you need to make sure all the layers of the filo
are cooked right through.
Remove them from the oven
immediately they are done on some kitchen paper to make sure they don’t absorb
back any oil lying in the tray.
Cut its stick diagonal in 4
pieces and serve,
They are best hot or warm and
they can be reheated the next day.
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