Kasha in Phyllo
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or unsalted butter
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 12 ounces mushrooms, chopped fine
- 1 egg white
- 3/4 cup medium- or coarse-grain kasha
- 1 23 cups chicken, beef or vegetable stock
- Salt and ground black pepper
- 1/2 pound phyllo
- 13 cup melted butter (see note)
- Sour cream or plain yogurt
- Heat oil or butter in a heavy 3-quart saucepan.
- Add onion and cook, stirring, over medium heat until it turns golden.
- Add mushrooms and saute, stirring, until they give off their liquid, the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms begin to brown.
- Beat the egg white until it is bubbly, then stir in the kasha.
- Mix well to coat the grains of kasha.
- Add kasha to onion and mushroom mixture and stir until the grains look separate.
- Bring the stock to a boil, stir it into the kasha mixture, cover the pan and cook over low heat until the kasha is tender and fluffy and the liquid is absorbed, about 12 minutes.
- Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Depending on the size of the sheets of phyllo, cut them in half or quarters to make about 48 small sheets about 6 by 8 inches.
- Keep unused sheets of phyllo covered with a lightly dampened cloth while you work with the individual sheets.
- Brush a sheet of phyllo lightly with melted butter then repeat with three more sheets of phyllo.
- Center three heaping tablespoons of the kasha and mushroom mixture in a high mound on the sheet of phyllo and fold one side of the sheet over the top.
- Brush edge with butter, fold the other side over, brush with butter again and fold the ends over the top to form a plump pillow-shaped pastry turnover.
- Place the pastry, seam-side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet.
- Brush the top and sides with butter.
- Repeat this step until you have used all the phyllo and the filling.
- There should be about 12 pastries.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Bake the phyllo pastries about 30 minutes, until golden brown.
- If they seem to be browning much faster on the bottom, invert them halfway through the baking time.
- The fully baked pastries can be frozen for future use and reheated in the oven or frozen unbaked and baked before serving.
- Serve with sour cream or yogurt on the side.
olive oil, onion, mushrooms, egg, kasha, chicken, salt, phyllo, butter, sour cream
Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/8532 (may not work)