How To Make A 'Frying Pan' From Filo Dough

original photo by Bryce Attwell

Yesterday we highlighted The Elegant Chef's Guide To Hors D'Oeuvres And Appetizers by British celebrity chef Antony Worrall-Thompson. Today we share his manner of shaping filo dough into a frying pan shape that makes for a snazzy presentation of whatever it is you fill it with. The recipe in the book fills the pan with sauteed carrots, asparagus tips, snow peas, green beans, broccoli, zucchini, young leeks, cauliflower, and an array of wild mushrooms. The dish is then garnished with peeled cherry tomatoes and one ounce of julienned truffle. But with a little imagination you'll be able to figure out all sorts of uses.

Makes 4 small pans:

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, clarified
8 sheets filo pastry, and another 2 sheets cut in half horizontally

Brush one whole pastry sheet with melted butter and fold in two. Lay it in a small iron frying pan, mold to the shape of the pan, and trim off the excess. Butter a half sheet, roll it up to make a 'handle' and lay it partly in the pan but with 3 inches extending up the real pan handle.

To secure the 'handle', cover the 'pan' area with another sheet, folded. Trim this to shape and prick all over with a fork. Brush once more with butter. Bake, without removing from the real pan, in a hot oven for about 12 minutes, or until crisp and brown.

Detach the cooked 'pan' gently from the real pan, and make 3 more 'pans' in the same way.

Before filling and serving, reheat the pastry 'frying pans' in a warm oven for 3 minutes.

The Elegant Chef's Guide To Hors D'oeuvres and Appetizers
Antony Worrall-Thompson
Photographs by Bryce Attwell
Published by Chartwell Books, Inc.