AirFriday: Brinjal, bell pepper and cheese phyllo parcels in your air fryer

In Greece, these attractive, funky little spiral pies are called melitzanopita strifti, which translates literally to “eggplant spiral phyllo pie”. (Melitzano, like the Italian melanzane, means brinjal; pita is pie, and “strifti” means spiralled or twisted.)

For my filling, as well as brinjals and red bell peppers — which I cooked in an air fryer — I added three herbs (oregano, thyme and mint) and two kinds of cheese: feta and Parmesan. If you’re able to, get hold of kefalotyri, a salty hard Greek cheese made from sheep’s or goat’s milk. But a combination of feta and parmesan will do the trick.

Have a light hand with the mint, otherwise it may dominate the other herbs.

You need lots of butter for this recipe, which obviously adds to the cost. That’s because phyllo is better with butter. But this pastry, popular in Greek and Middle Eastern cuisines, does reward you in the eating, so plan this one as a treat.

There are eggs in it as well, only for binding, on a basis of one egg per phyllo pie.

Tony’s eggplant and red bell pepper phyllo pies

(Makes 2 large phyllo pies as a full portion for 2 people)

Ingredients

200g salted butter

6 Tbsp olive oil, or enough to drizzle over the halved eggplants

2 large brinjals/eggplants, or more smaller ones depending on their size

2 to 3 large red bell peppers

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 medium red onion, peeled and chopped

Salt and black pepper to taste

2 Tbsp picked oregano leaves

2 Tbsp picked thyme leaves

1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves

2 eggs

½ cup Panko breadcrumbs

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 wheel of feta, crumbled or chopped

2 eggs, beaten

4 sheets of phyllo pastry, thawed, for each of the two phyllo pies

Method

Preheat an air fryer to 200°C. Prick the red bell peppers with a fork in a few places. Place them in the air fryer and cook for five-minute periods, turning them around between each period until the skins have blackened on all sides.

Leave to cool to room temperature, then peel the skins off with your fingers. Cut them open and scrape away the pips, to be discarded.

Pour a little olive oil into a bowl. Slice the eggplants in half lengthwise, and roll them in the oil until coated all over. Season with salt on the underside and place them round side down in the air fryer, pre-heated to 200°C. Season the top insides lightly with salt.

Grill them on both sides in the air fryer at 200°C until tender and taking on colour.

Let them cool, then cut them into dice and season with black pepper. Also chop up the red peppers.

Now move to the stove top. In a pan, heat a little olive oil and simmer the chopped onion with the garlic until softened. Season with a little salt.

Stir in the chopped brinjals and red peppers, and the thyme, mint and oregano. Finally, stir in the Panko breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan and crumbled feta cheese. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Melt the butter and have a basting brush to hand.

On a large, clean work surface, lay out 1 sheet of phyllo and immediately brush it with melted butter. Repeat, basting each layer with butter, until they are a stack of 4 layers.

Beat the eggs and fold into the cooled filling.

Spoon half of the filling along one edge of the pastry (with the end facing you), but leaving 3cm of space clear at the same edge. Begin rolling it over the filling and keep rolling until it is a long tube.

Roll it into a circular shape, carefully, until the curved ends overlap. See the photo as a guide.

Brush the outside of the parcels with the remaining melted butter.

Bake in a preheated 180°C air fryer until the pastry has turned golden and crunchy. The time may vary from machine to machine, as their insides differ in dimension and shape. Allow 30 to 40 minutes, but they’re ready when the pastry is golden and crispy — what’s inside them is already cooked, remember.

A simple Greek salad would suit this well. DM

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.