Escargots With Feta In Phyllo Pastry

Total Time: 40 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 7 ounces escargot, canned (200 g tin, containing not less than 30 snails, but can size is approximate)
• 4 sheets phyllo pastry, large
• olive oil
• 6 ounces feta cheese (pat dry if in brine, or use a round of camembert cheese)
• 3 teaspoons garlic, finely chopped (use strong garlic)
• 3 teaspoons black pepper, coarse
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup parsley, finely chopped (200 ml)
• 1/2 cup walnuts, broken up (optional)

Recipe

• 1 set oven at 350 deg f/180 deg celsius, or 325 f/160 c if you have a convenction oven.
• 2 grease 6 holes of a muffin tin.it's easiest to use every alternate muffin hole because you have to press in the phyllo pastry.
• 3 open and drain the the escargots. open the phyllo pastry, and cover with a well-wrung-out clean, damp kitchen cloth to prevent it drying out.
• 4 if your olive oil has a stopper which makes it come out in a thin stream, just drizzle across the top phyllo sheet, then brush that evenly all over with a pastry brush. (or put olive oil in a bowl and brush over).
• 5 put the phyllo sheet on a wooden board or on your clean counter. brush 3 more phyllo sheets with olive oil, and put them, one after the other, carefully on top of each other.
• 6 the phyllo i used could then easily be divided into 6 parts and carefully cut through. put the 4-layer phyllo pastry rectangles in 6 muffin holes, patting them in with your fingers.
• 7 feta, where i am, usually comes in 2-ounce rounds in brine. pat them dry with kitchen paper, and break up the feta in large bits. put 1 ounce in each "nest" of phyllo. (or see directions for camembert below).
• 8 put 5 escargots on top of the feta chunks. add the walnuts, if using.
• 9 add about 1 heaped teaspoon finely chopped parsley to each filling.
• 10 melt the butter gently, adding the garlic and pepper, stir to mix.
• 11 add about 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoon of this butter mixture to each filling.
• 12 carefully fold the phyllo pastry over the filling. the easiest way is to tuck in the short bits first, then fold the longest bit over the rest, and fasten with a toothpick.
• 13 brush every little bundle with more olive oil, or melted butter.
• 14 bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until the pastry is golden.
• 15 they should come out easily, but be careful because the phyllo is brittle when baked. garnish to your taste.
• 16 * added later: if you have a small round bowl, you could cut out rounds and fit that into the muffin pan hollows by pressing them in gently. but cut out enough phyllo to cover the filling.
• 17 * i have used camembert cheese plus walnuts, instead of the feta, and found that even more delicious.