Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Mascarpone-Berry and Spinach-Feta Fillo Tarts

I hosted a poker party last night for a few friends and made a few appetizers/desserts to go along with it.  I tried some new things that I haven't used before and they came out great.  They didn't take too much time to put together and were almost all gone by the end of the night.  I'd call that a success. :)

I used Athens Fillo Shells which I found at Hannafords.  I was looking for some fillo dough or puff pastry to make little cups out of and these pre-baked shells seemed like they would just make it slightly easier to get everything made before people showed up.  

I decided to make two different type of tarts, one was filled with spinach and feta and the other with marscarpone, blueberries, and strawberries.  These were really simple and everyone seemed to like them. :) 

As you can see from the picture below, I also made guacamole and served brownies and chips and salsa too. But since the brownies came out of a box, the chips out of a bag, and the salsa out of a jar, I'm not including those recipes below.  I've blogged about guacamole before so I didn't include that either (although my recipes are never the same one time to the next... so it was slightly different - I used red onion, used 3 avocados, 1 tomato, and left out the salt.). 



Recipe:
For the fruit tarts:
1 package (15 shells) fillo shells
4 oz. mascarpone cheese
5-6 strawberries, sliced into 1/4" slices (you need 15 slices)
30 blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place shells on a baking sheet and bake for 3-4 minutes.
3. Spoon 1 tsp. of mascarpone into each cup.  
4. Top with 2 blueberries and a slice of a strawberry.
5. Serve immediately.

For the spinach-feta tarts:
1 package (15 shells) fillo shells
1 c. frozen chopped spinach
4 oz. crumbled feta cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Thaw the spinach in the microwave for 4 minutes.  Allow to cool until cool enough to handle.  Squeeze the liquid out of it.
3. Mix spinach and feta in a bowl. 
4. Spoon into the shells, putting about a teaspoonful into each shell.
5. Bake for 5-6 minutes until heated through.
6. Serve immediately. 

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