Savory Pumpkin Phyllo Tartlets Food

SAVORY PUMPKIN TART

Steps:

• The night before serving, toss squash with salt in a bowl. Place a heavy weight on top, cover with plastic, and refrigerate overnight.
• To make pastry, combine flour and salt in a large bowl. With pastry cutter or fork, cut in butter until it forms coarse crumbs. Add 1 to 11/3 cups very cold water, a few tablespoons at a time, until mixture just comes together. Form dough into a ball, cover with plastic, and refrigerate overnight.
• The next day, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease large baking sheet. Drain squash. In saucepan over medium heat, melt remaining butter. Sauté onion, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden, 7 to 10 minutes.
• On floured surface, roll out dough into a 17- by 12-inch rectangle. With long side facing you, spread squash evenly over right half of dough. Top with onion, parsley and garlic cloves; season with salt and generous grind of pepper.
• Dab edges of dough with water. Fold left half over filling and pinch edges firmly to seal. Brush crust with egg yolk. Using knife, cut slit in center of crust, pulling back edges slightly to form a 2 1/2-inch hole.
• Transfer crust to baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking until squash is fork tender and crust is well browned, 35 to 40 minutes longer. Slowly pour cream into crust vent. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

PUMPKIN KOLOKITHOPITA (GREEK PHYLLO PASTRIES)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a baking sheet with butter.
• Mix together pumpkin, honey, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
• Cut phyllo dough into vertical strips about 2 inches wide, and cover the pile of phyllo strips with a clean, damp tea towel.
• Lay one phyllo strip flat on a workspace in front of you. Using a pastry brush, brush the surface of the phyllo dough with an even coat of melted butter. Place a tablespoon of the pumpkin filling at the end of the phyllo strip. Starting at the end with the pumpkin filling, fold the phyllo dough over as you would a flag until the phyllo is the shape of a triangle. Place on baking sheet.
• Repeat until all of the pumpkin filling is used up.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until the tops of the triangles are golden brown.

PUMPKIN PIE PHYLLO BITES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the pumpkin pie filling, heavy cream and egg in a large bowl and mix well. Spoon the filling into 30 ready-made mini phyllo shells, filling no more than 3/4 full. Place the filled shells on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Garnish with chopped pecans, if desired.