DIANE KOCHILAS: Phyllo, the thin sheets of pastry that have been part of Greek cuisine for centuries, provides an easy backdrop to countless dishes, from appetizers to desserts.

It's the ingredient that helps us create the Mediterranean diet on the go, with myriad savory pies and other handheld goodies too.

I'm Diane Kochilas, join me on My Greek Table as I cook up some delicious phyllo recipes, including a spanakopita salad, a sheet pan vegetable pizza, and a healthy version of classic Greek baklava.

Let's explore phyllo together one layer at a time.

♪♪ ANNOUNCER: My Greek Table with Diane Kochilas is made possible in part by... The Fillo Factory.

Grecian Delight Kronos, A family committed to better eating.

The National Hellenic Society.

And by the following... DIANE: Phyllo, those thin sheets of flaky pastry with multiple uses, is one of the foundational ingredients of Greek cooking.

Greeks have been rolling, stretching, and layering phyllo for centuries.

It likely dates back to at least the Byzantine era, and maybe even earlier.

This age-old staple is incredibly versatile, easy to store, and brings a delicate crunch to everything it touches.

What I love most about phyllo though is that it's a great vehicle for getting more healthy and plant-based foods into your diet.

It's naturally low in fat, and I almost always use olive oil to lubricate the sheets, especially for savory dishes.

Its mild, subtle flavor makes it the perfect background for robust greens, vegetables, and cheeses.

And it's extraordinarily versatile too.

You can fold it into triangles or roll it into cylinders.

You can make whole pan pies, twist it into decorative spirals, and use as the base for a pizza or as a crunchy salad topping.

Phyllo is of course the de rigueur ingredient in the most iconic of all Greek recipes, spanakopita.

And it is the basis for Greece's vast variety of savory pies.

To me, it is the ultimate Mediterranean diet secret weapon.

[Upbeat music] The idea for this spanakopita salad with crispy phyllo came to me while researching a book about Athens and encountering all sorts of ways to create a more modern version of many Greek classics.

I have all the ingredients for basic spanakopita filling, which is spinach, scallions, dill and feta cheese.

Ingredients that belong to a classic spanakopita.

I'm going to fold this in half.

Get this into the baking pan which I have lined with parchment paper.

[Crinkle of paper] Brush the top with a little oil.

This is really easy, but it's also kind of a fun, variation on a very familiar theme.

I also love to use the spanakopita filling in all sorts of different applications too and turning it into a salad is just one more of those.

[Crinkle of paper] I'm going to put a piece of parchment on top and then a second sheet pan... [Soft crunching] And get this right in the oven.

This is going in at 375 Fahrenheit it's going to take about 15 minutes or so to get the phyllo right to that color and crispiness that we want.

[Clanking of tray] While the phyllo is baking, I'll finish off the salad.

Uh first thing to chop, are the scallions.

That's one of the classic ingredients in a spinach pie, in a spanakopita.

[Chopping] Okay, I think they're good here.

And a little bit of nice fresh dill.

One of the herbs that Greeks love to use fresh.

Okay.

{Finely chopping] We don't want the tough stems in there so I'm just going to get them out of the way.

Chop up the rest of this.

This is also going into my spanakopita... salad filling.

The phyllo might actually be done by now.

[Metal tray clanking] Okay, let's see what is under here.

Ahhh, looks perfect!

That's exactly what we want.

Nice, beautiful, dark, golden, crispy phyllo.

Time to mix the salad.

I've got my extra virgin Greek olive oil.

Always handy on my kitchen counter.

That's pretty much the only dressing in here because the feta is tangy enough.

A little bit of salt.

A little black pepper.

The feta, I'm going to maybe save a little bit for garnish.

[Spoons clanking] I'm going to mix this now all together.

[Spoon tapping bowl] I'm getting the aromas of a spanakopita.

Looks very very fresh.

Okay, I'm going to get this served.

[Soft tapping of spoons] This makes anywhere between probably two and six servings.

Depending on how big a salad fan you are and how big a salad you like.

I love salad.

A little bit more on top.

And now, now's the fun part.

So this is nice and cool.

It's really crisp and all we want to do is just break it.

That's, you know, this is the fun part.

[Cracking of phyllo] And it's got a beautiful color.

So you've got a salad made with everyday ingredients with phyllo used in a very different and interesting way.

And, just a tiny bit of feta cheese on top.

Time to taste this.

Really nice, simple, spanakopita salad.

Mmm.

[Crunching] It's nice and crunchy.

Mmm, it really tastes like spanakopita.

It's easy, it's fun to make, and it turns a Greek classic into something globally appealing.

[Folksy country inspired music] When I'm out and about in Athens one of my favorite street food options whether for breakfast, lunch or a quick snack, is a savory phyllo pie.

These pies are the perfect Mediterranean diet on the go and the city is full of bakeries and street vendors that serve them up fresh.

It's always fun to choose from a wide variety of flavors including spinach, leak, potato, cheese, zucchini, chicken, feta with tomato, egg and cheese and more.

Once you've picked your favorite, they're easy to enjoy while exploring the city.

Phyllo pies are just one of the many delicious street food experiences Greece has to offer.

I'm making a healthy veggie pizza today with phyllo pastry.

[Bright guitar music] I've got my phyllo right here.

I want to keep it covered so that I keep it from drying out while I prepare the pan.

And the first thing we want to do is just get some olive oil on the bottom of the baking sheet.

Okay, I think this is well oiled here.

You want to work a little bit fast with phyllo, especially if you've got an oven on in the kitchen and it's hot.

So, get this in here.

[Lyrical guitar music] Don't worry about the overhang.

We're going to turn that in to make a nice rim at the end.

You do want to get the edges brushed because those, that's what will dry out first and you also don't have to be painstaking about covering every single inch of this.

The oil will spread a little bit as well, as the phyllo bakes.

[Music continues] This is really fresh and you know it's fresh when you can do this.

You can crinkle it up like that and straighten it out again and the sheet basically opens up without any cracks or any holes.

I think this was the fourth layer here, and I want to get a little bit of cheese on this layer.

What I've got here is just a grated kefalotiri cheese.

That's a Greek sheep's milk cheese.

It's nice and pungent.

You can use any grated cheese on this.

A Parmesan, obviously, would be great.

A Romano, anything you'd like.

Just keep it covered.

The most important thing is to work a little bit fast.

I've got quite a number of layers on the bottom because the vegetable filling is a little bit heavy and that's kind of a rule.

The heavier the filling, the more layers you're going to need on the bottom.

And just a couple more, we're almost there.

One more, one less on the top it's not going to make a huge difference.

Okay, the last layer.

[Brushing] Now I've got to make the pizza rim.

You use the overhang for that.

You want to get each side in.

If there's a lot of overhang, you can fold it in.

If if there isn't, don't worry about it.

It's basically, this is you know, cosmetic.

So I've got my phyllo ready.

And of course the next thing that goes on is the kefalotiri.

Here you can be a little bit generous.

And then we just want to get all of this peppers, layered in a bit of alternating color.

Red, green, red, green.

You don't have to be so exacting.

It's just um, that's really a matter of taste and patience maybe.

I think that looks pretty good.

Next up, the onions.

And you can snuggle them between the slices of peppers.

I love onions.

We want to get the broccoli on here next, the smaller the pieces the better and you can, you know, you don't have to be that painstaking.

You can just scatter the broccoli around.

The yellow teardrop tomatoes, do it so that they're scattered evenly.

And a Greek touch, the kalamata olives, the sky is the limit.

Um, you could do this with seasonal vegetables or pretty much anything you want.

I want to add a little bit of basil to this.

Looking for some nice leaves.

And my feta.

Just get the Greek feta and the kalamata olives.

Uh definitely give this... You know, a Greek passport.

And then I'm just going to take these beautiful basil leaves... And strew them over the top.

A little bit of olive oil, just mainly for the broccoli.

The last thing I have to do is just cut this into serving pieces.

And you always want to cut your phyllo before it goes into the oven so that it doesn't puff up and become impossible to cut afterwards.

[Soft crunching] And now the other way around.

We're almost done.

Perfect.

This is going into the oven.

I've got my oven going at 375 Fahrenheit.

You want a hot oven for this, but not so hot that the top layer is cooked before everything else does on the inside.

And this is going to take around 25 minutes to a half hour.

You know, every oven is a little bit different.

Okay.

This has won my New York heart.

The question is whether to eat this with a fork and a knife like an Athenian or without a fork and a knife like a New Yorker.

Let's cut through it.

It breaks apart pretty easily.

Okay.

Ah look at that.

I think I'm gonna do this like a New Yorker, because some habits when it comes to pizza, never go away.

[Crunch of pizza] Mm.

That proves that maybe the Italians invented it, but phyllo and feta and a whole Greek garden of vegetables is definitely perfect.

This is a pizza worth making.

[Crunch of pizza] DIANE: While the savory phyllo recipes in Greek cuisine are countless, so are the desserts made with phyllo.

And many of them are pretty healthy too, calling for nuts, one of the most important longevity foods, and olive oil instead of or in combination with butter.

A little treat now and again, crunchy, crispy, and golden, thanks to the myriad ways Greek cooks use phyllo in desserts, makes life, well, sweet in this part of the world.

I'm making the most iconic Greek dessert, which is baklava.

[Soft guitar music] It's a pretty healthy dessert.

That's the nuts and phyllo layered, drizzled with a delicious syrup.

And that's what we've got to do first.

So I'm just getting my sugar into the boiling water here.

And we want to cook the sugar until it dissolves.

It's clear as water basically right now.

The next thing is this delicious, gorgeous, thick Greek pine honey.

It's time to get the spices in here, a few whole cloves, it's going into the pot, a cinnamon stick.

A little bit of orange zest, just a strip, and a little fresh lemon juice, which keeps the syrup from crystallizing.

I'm just going to strain this into the mixture.

We don't want a very thick syrup on this.

We want it to be thin enough so that the phyllo absorbs it.

I have to let this cool, so I'm just going to set it aside and get going on the actual dessert.

This dessert is literally as old as the Parthenon.

Using nuts and honey together with pastry is something that Greeks have been making since antiquity.

And I've got, a forest of nuts here, I've got walnuts, almonds and pistachios.

First, getting my walnuts into the food processor.

Uh my almonds, [Scatter of nuts] And the pistachios.

I'm going to grind these all together.

[Lid clicks] [Whir of food processor] So you want to be a little careful about the consistency.

It should be a fairly coarse grind.

You can see that.

I'm going to get this into the mixing bowl.

I have something else going in here too, which is bread crumb.

A little bit of sugar, but just a little bit.

I have all my spices ready: ground cloves... Ground cinnamon... And ground nutmeg.

I like to add a little bit of orange zest.

[Grating] It actually adds a little bit of moisture to the nut filling as well.

We want a little bit of dampness in here, and I like to add just a tablespoon or so of some of this melted butter.

The rest of this, will go into the phyllo.

You want to make sure the nut mixture is very, very well combined.

And I want to feel, you know, kind of the butteriness in here, and that's what we're looking for.

I have the syrup cooling.

The nut mixture is ready.

The next step is to actually assemble the baklava.

Let's get started on assembling the baklava.

I'm going to cut the phyllo right down the middle.

I'm going to keep this covered until I'm ready to use it in just a couple of seconds from now.

I'm going to get a little olive oil on the bottom of my baking pan here.

I'm using a combination of butter and olive oil today to lubricate the phyllo, mainly to give this an even healthier aura.

I'm going to start with a few layers on the bottom.

So that it doesn't get soggy when it's baked.

We don't have to be meticulous about lubricating the phyllo.

We don't have to necessarily get every last inch of this.

But we do want to work fast.

I want to cut a little bit of this excess in here.

Okay.

I'm ready to start getting the nut mixture in here, sprinkling approximately, you know, four heaping tablespoons of the nut mixture over each layer.

Now I'm going to do two layers of phyllo over this and you want to press it down.

You can fold that in a little bit.

It's not going to show.

Lubricate it.

Two sheets of phyllo.

When this bakes all together the nuts won't be obviously loose like this.

They'll be nice and compressed and everything will come together really beautifully.

Okay.

This gets a sprinkling of nuts.

Okay.

Almost there.

A couple more layers of phyllo.

[Brushing] I would say minimum number of layers you want in a baklava is about 12, but you can go all the way up to 18, 20, 24.

The more layers the better in a way because, you get a lot of crunch.

And now we're just going to finish this with the top layers.

We're almost done.

Got the last sheet, going right over the top.

Get the last of the butter and olive oil mixture over this.

Next thing is to cut through the pieces.

I like to make shapes that are diamond shapes.

It looks very pretty.

And the next thing that we want to do is get some cloves in here.

These are like little nails that hold the baklava layers together.

We call this garifalo in Greek.

This serves a practical purpose, but it also of course adds really nice flavor.

This is ready for the oven.

We're going to bake the baklava slowly at 325 Fahrenheit for about one and a half to two hours so that all of the interior layers also have time to cook thoroughly.

[Glass tray clanking] The syrup is nice and cool.

I just want to fish out the clove, the cinnamon, and the orange zest.

It's time to get the baklava out of the oven it's been baking for about an hour and a half, and it's very golden and crisp on top.

Ooh la la, this looks perfect.

And I have to immediately get our cooled syrup over the baklava, just gently pour it in with a ladle.

I think we are good with this.

I'm just going to let this sit now for a while, both to cool down, but also so that the hot baklava has time to absorb the cooled syrup.

The baklava is cool.

The syrup has been totally absorbed.

What we don't want are puddles or pools of syrup on the top.

I like the baklava to be crispy.

[Cutting] And I'm going to serve myself a piece.

Look at that.

You might want to get the clove out of there.

We don't need it.

[Cutting] This is perfect.

Hm.

Mm.

The nuts, I can taste each of them.

I can taste the pistachios.

I can taste the earthiness of the walnuts.

Flavors that come straight from the spice roots.

The phyllo is beautiful and crisp.

The syrup is just right.

Balance everything out.

Wow, this is really good.

DIANE: For recipe links and information about My Greek Table , visit my website, DianeKochilas.com.

ANNOUNCER: Diane's cookbooks, "The Ikaria Way" and "Athens: Food, Stories, Love" are available to purchase online at DianeKochilas.com or call the phone number on the screen.

My Greek Table with Diane Kochilas is made possible in part by... The Fillo Factory.

Grecian Delight Kronos, A family committed to better eating.

The National Hellenic Society.

And by the following... [Comical music] [Crunching] DIANE: Delicious.

This is a pizza... This is a pizza worth... [Background chatter] DIANE: This is... Come on, [snaps fingers] help me out here.

[Crunch of pizza] PRODUCER: One more time.

[Producer laughing] [Crunch] DIANE: This is a pizza that would even win over the heart of my daughter's Neopolitan boyfriend.

Can I say that?