Monday, December 14, 2009

Chopped Greek Salad in Phyllo Cups



The first appetizer I'm posting from our Housewarming Party is one of my personal favorites, Chopped Greek Salad in Phyllo Cups. It's not a very innovative recipe, but they're really cute, have great stage presence, are easy to make tons of, and taste wonderful! The great thing about these are you can do any variation of ingredients or ethnicities, like a chopped asian salad, chopped cobb salad, indian salad with tahini dressing, tex mex with black beans, corn and avocado....the list is endless!

Making the cups was actually very easy, and took about an hour to make about 100 cups (which was way more than we needed, but I snacked on them the next few days). If you don't want to mess with the phyllo, you can also use wontons or even tortillas. I personally enjoy phyllo the most, probably because of the golden color and buttery crunch!

I made the phyllo cups the night before the party and loosely wrapped them in saran wrap. I chopped all the veggies and put them in tupperware, then tossed the salad in the dressing right before I spooned them into the cups.

Chopped Greek Salad in Phyllo Cups

cups:
1 package of phyllo, defrosted in the refrigerator
1 stick of butter, melted
salad:
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and minced
1 english cucumber, seeded and minced
1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes, seeded and minced (or 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes)
1 cup green olives, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

dressing:
1 tsp. minced fresh oregano
1 tbsp. minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup EVOO
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp. honey
(or 1/2 cup prepared greek dressing or a vinaigrette)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Roll out phyllo on counter, cover with a damp towel.
Melt the butter in a small dish.
Place a piece of phyllo on a cutting board, brush with butter, repeat 4 times.
Using a pizza cutter, slice into 3" squares.
Press into a mini muffin tin.
Bake for 5-7 minutes, until golden brown.
Pop out, cool on a wire rack, keep in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.

Add all salad ingredients, toss.
Spoon into phyllo cups, garnish with extra herbs.

Yield: 100 cups and enough salad for about 50 cups






2 comments:

Joanne said...

This is a great idea! I love how you can change up the filling ingredients based on your mood or a party's theme or what's in season.

Tonyne said...

This is a fantastic idea! You can do so much with it! Thank you so much for sharing! :)