Spiced Potato Briouats

This recipe came from Joyce Goldstein’s The Mediterranean Kitchen cook book. Our copy is literally falling apart from being used so much! She has some great recipes that capture the flavors of Southern Europe, North Africa and surrounding lands. Here is our (slightly adapted) version

Ingredients
2 russet potatoes (~6oz each)
2 tbsp butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp freshly ground cumin seed
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 egg

Filo dough (We used borek dough, which is a bit thicker than classic filo pastry)
Melted butter, as needed

Bake the potatoes, ~60 minutes at 400 ºF. Meanwhile, cook the onion in 2 tbsp butter over medium heat until soft (~7 minutes) then add the garlic and cook 3 minutes more. Scoop out the potato flesh and pass through a potato ricer into a large bowl. Add the garlic/onion mixture and the parsley, cumin, salt and pepper; you might want to add the spices and seasoning bit by bit until it tastes right. It should be very well seasoned. Add a beaten egg and mix thoroughly until everything is incorporated.

Cut the filo dough into 12x3 inch strips. Place one strip on the work surface, brush with melted butter, add another strip on top and brush with butter again. Put about a tablespoon of filling near one end of the strip (like the white blob in the drawing below), and fold the corner of the dough over so that it encloses the filling in a triangle. Now fold the triangle over along the strip, then fold the corner of the triangle over again – continuing until it’s all folded into a triangle. (Try to squeeze out any trapped air bubbles as you go).

 

Brush with a little more butter and bake in the oven at 375 ºF until golden in color, about 10 minutes. If you turn them after 7 minutes or so, they should get nicely golden on all sides.