Vegetarian Onion and Mushroom Filo Parcels

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 180c/355f/gas 4
• Rinse and chop the aubergine into discs and lay them flat on a kitchen towel, Sprinkle them with salt and leave for 30 minutes. This draws out some of the water from the aubergine. Why do this? Well by reducing the amount of water in the aubergine it makes it less soggy and draws out some of the bitterness you can get from it.
• When this is done, lay the aubergine onto a baking tray and brush with some of the oil.
• Sprinkle with a little black pepper, put your garlic cloves on the tray too and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.
• Slice the onions into rings and separate into a large pan with a tablespoon of oil.
• Fry them over a low heat stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes. You want it to be slow so the onion’s flavour is better. Cooking them over a high heat can deactivate the enzymes preventing some of these molecules being produced.
• Chop the mushrooms and add to the onions, continuing to stir occasionally. You may need to add a little more oil if the pan is looking dry. Sprinkle the herbs over and continue frying for another 10 minutes.
• Remove the garlic from the oven, crush it and add to the pan, mixing in well.
• Remove the pan from the heat.
• After the 30 minutes, take the aubergines out of the oven and let them cool for a few minutes. When cooled slightly, chop it into little cubes and mix into the onion and mushrooms.
• Chop the goats cheese into little cubes and stir into the mix along with the paprika. Mix well but do this carefully so the chunks remain mostly intact.
• Lay out one sheet of the filo pastry. Brush with a little olive oil and lay another sheet over the top but at an angle so it has 6 points. Spoon ¼ of the filling onto the centre of the filo pastry and brush around the filling with the oil, this helps it stick together. Begin gathering up the sides so it looks like a little bag.
• Repeat with the other 3 parcels and put onto a baking tray.
• Bake for about 10 minutes at 180c/355f/gas4 or when the top of the pastry goes golden.