This past weekend we had our good friends Barb and Kevin over and we thought what better way to give them a taste of our Moroccan experience than to serve a variety of Moroccan delicacy’s that we learned how to make in our cooking classes. The hors d’œuvres for our Moroccan meal comes from our very first class in our Ryad Dar Les Cignones (The Storks – we had an old dilapidated palace across from the hotel where actual enormous storks made their nests!).
Our beautiful Chef (sadly, I cannot recall her name) at our Ryad showed us how to make these delicious pillows of Phyllo Pastry (which she actually made herself, although I won’t!) stuffed with a richly spiced shrimp mix. She did not give us a little printout like Maison MK did, so I had to go by memory and find a similar recipe on line and made some minor alterations. The photo below is the one taken with the iPhone4 with the flash at the Ryad. I tried to fix it a bit in Photoshop so it doesn’t look as cold and harsh. The funny story around the briouats is that the Chef specifically asked me if I wanted them deep fried or baked, and I opted for baked ‘pour la santé’ I said. And low and behold, we are served deep fried briouats! They were very tasty non-the-less!
Baked Shrimp Briouats
Makes 26 5 cm (2 inch) triangles
Ingredients:
- 300 g shrimp, peel on
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
- Pinch of cayenne
- Large pinch of saffron threads, revived in a little water
- 1/4 cup fresh panko (or bread crumbs, I had panko)
- 5 sheets of phyllo dough
- 1/2 cup olive oil
Directions:
- Chop the shrimp into 1/2 cm bits, doesn’t have to be even or pretty.
- Heat a splash of oil in a pan and sauté the onions, add the shrimp and cook through.
- Add the garlic, tomato paste and spices and stir until you can smell the aroma.
- Remove from heat and add the panko, mix well.
- Allow to cool completely and add the fresh parsley and cilantro leaves. Mix well.
- Take 1 sheet of phyllo at a time, cut into 4-5cm strips. Drizzle with olive oil.
- Add about 1 tsp of the cooled filling to one end and fold tightly as shown in the diagram.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 ° F. Bake triangles for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Serve immediately or allow to cool and freeze.
Wow do these look good! And I love the little diagram. 🙂
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Thanks Betsey, the equilateral triangles are much harder to create than a regular triangle (two short but equal sides and one long side) so I thought I would save you some heart ache!
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Wow, these looks absolutely amazing – I have some phyllo pastry at home right now actually… hmmmm, giving me ideas 😀 I even have shrimps to be used up too (I’m emptying the freezer finally after I broke the top drawer trying to force it in past the ice build-up :p)
Maybe I’m blind and missing it, but did you make any mention to what the dipping sauce is?
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Hi Charles, we just made a simple balsamic reduction with raspberry purée. I’ll check the post and update; thanks for the heads up!
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These look fabulous Eva! I love all the seasonings and I’m particularly partial to shrimp. I think you did a fantastic job recreating these little treats. How are you feeling these days? Cold/flu all gone?
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Thanks for your kind words and concern, Kristy. The cold is on its last legs thank goodness! I’m starting to feel normal again. Thanks for asking.
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I can’t imagine that they were better on day two Eva! Thanks for having us over — everything was absolutely delicious. Makes me want to fly off to Morocco myself, but alas no such luck anytime soon….it was the next best thing to being there!
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Thanks Barb, it was great to see you and Kevin. I’ll let you know about Xmas eve.
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Re: Baklava – I did the version that’s assembled like a lasagna … sheets, nuts and the rest of the sheets. Cut through top phyllo layers, bake, cut all the way to the bottom and pour the syrup over all. You end up using more syrup cause it has to wick up to moisten the top layers.
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That sounds lovely, Maria. The layers soaked with the syrup are mouth watering!
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I love that these are baked and not deep fried! Can you tell I’m trying to eat healthier? 😛
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Hey Lorraine, you’re just heading into summer, so eating healthier sounds like a plan to get into those cute little shorts! and maybe even a bikini! My tastes have never been towards the fatty fried things so I am fortunate that I actually prefer the healthier tastes!
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You know, if you asked for baked, and they gave you fried, the calories don’t count! These look wonderful.
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I like the way you think, Greg. My nephew polished off the leftovers the following night…I might even say they were better on day two!
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I love seafood! Those shrimp triangles are definitely perfect for me.
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Thanks Angie, that pinch of cayenne was great, just a little heat to wake up the tastebuds.
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I’ve just started using phyllo pastry myself and have made similar triangles with spinach/feta and goat cheese inside (an appetizer version of spanakopita) but I love shrimp so this is a definite ‘must try’ in the future. More recently I made walnut baklava. I was going to use the leftover phyllo to make apple triangles but had enough ground walnuts to use it up. I must buy more phyllo soon. 🙂
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Hi Maria, phyllo is best used fresh, it dries out so easily. I made a baklava on a previous post that was totally amazing (from Christine Cushings recipes) it was amazing.
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“Fresh” phyllo isn’t available to me so I have to use the frozen stuff and thaw it overnight in the fridge. I know that you have to keep it covered while assembling or else the layers dry out and fall apart though. That was one of the first things I learned from my mom about using phyllo. 🙂 I’ll have to check out your baklava as I’m making different shapes to see which one works best for me. And I’m still fiddling with the syrup recipe.
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Sorry Maria, I didn’t meant to mislead, I actually use the frozen stuff too and defrost in the fridge overnight. My mom kept a damp clean white cloth on the unused phyllo while she was working with it. I liked Christine Cushings rolls because you can see the gorgeous colours of the nuts.
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Puff pastry wrapped shrimp sound like such a great idea! They couldn’t be anything but delicious. Thanks for sharing one of your tasty souvenirs with us.
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Thanks John. We polished them off last night. It was great with the balsamic raspberry reduction!
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