These large individual pies with a Turkish filling make a wonderful first course. You need the sweet orange-fleshed pumpkin for this. It is sold in Middle Eastern and Oriental stores, almost all the year round, in large slices, with the seeds and stringy bits removed.

　　

Ingredients

makes 6

　　6 sheets fillo

　　4 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil

　　1 egg yolk

　　

For the Filling

2 pounds orange pumpkin

　　2 teaspoons sugar

　　5 ounces feta cheese, mashed with a fork

　　2 eggs, lightly beaten

　　

Step 1

Peel the pumpkin and scrape off the seeds and fibrous parts. Cut the flesh into pieces and put them in a pan with about 1 cup of water. Cook with the lid on (so that they steam) for 20 minutes, or until soft. Drain and mash with a potato masher or a fork. Return to the pan and leave over high heat until all the liquid has evaporated, watching that it does not burn and stirring with a wooden spoon. The pumpkin must be quite dry. If it is wet, the pastry will become soggy.

　　

Step 2

Mix with the rest of the filling ingredients.

　　

Step 3

Open out the sheets of fillo when you are ready to make the pies and be ready to work fast. Leave the sheets in a pile and brush the top one with melted butter or oil. Put a sixth of the filling in a mound on one side of the sheet, about 3 inches from the edge, in the center. Let it spread over a surface of about 3 inches.

　　

Step 4

Wrap the filling up into a flat, square parcel. Fold the near edge of the sheet over the filling, then very carefully lift the part of the sheet with the filling and turn over. Continue to turn the parcel over, folding the 2 side ends up at different turns so that the filling ends up covered with several layers of pastry. (See drawings on page 121.)

　　

Step 5

Continue with the remaining sheets and filling, and arrange the parcels on a sheet of foil on a baking sheet. Brush the tops with the egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon of water and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 35–45 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and brown.

　　

Step 6

Serve hot.

　　

Variation

Step 7

If you want to make the pies into a traditional coil shape, use the method given above (“Making Fillo Coils,” page 119).

　　The New Book of Middle Eastern Food Copyright © 2000Knopf