Hypoallergenic Small Savory Pastries

Filled with hypoallergenic leek filling. One recipes fills 3-4 pastries.

     Oh, those flaky, savory little pastries stuffed with spinach (spanakopita), feta/parsley or other good things! The fillo dough with which they are usually made is, of course, wheat; in addition it is likely to contain soy or corn additives, and the individual sheets are dusted with cornstarch to keep them from sticking to each other. You can, however, get quite good results using spring roll wrappers made of rice.

The ingredients of this product are:
"rice flour, tapioca flour, water, salt."
Also, there are no waxed sheets (corn? 
soy? dairy?) or sprinkles of cornstarch
between the sheets of pastry.

     rice spring roll wrappers
     any filling you like (beef, leeks, summer squash, mushroom, spinach, 

          feta/parsley...) that isn't too damp: you don't want to sog up the wrappers.
     oil for frying  (See Oil in the Glossary)

     Carefully take one wrapper from the package. They are very thin and crack easily. Wet every part of the wrapper under the faucet. Lay down on a flat surface and wait a few seconds. After a few seconds it will be soft, pliable and sticky. Place a bit of filling near the bottom edge and turn the bottom edge up over it, as shown in (A). Fold the left and right sides of the wrapper over the filling, as shown in (B). Roll the pastry up, making sure to leave as little air inside the pastry as possible (C). Otherwise the air will expand while you're cooking it, forming annoying big bubbles. The wrappers become very sticky when wet, so you don't need an egg wash or flaxseed meal to hold the pastries together.
     Once the pastries are rolled up, put 1/4 inch or so of oil in a skillet and heat to medium. Put the pastries in the oil and cook until the bottom of each one is golden brown and crisp. Turn each one over and cook the other side. Remove from oil and allow to cool for a couple of minutes; otherwise they're too hot to eat. Serve warm.

       (A)                                                                    (B)                                                      (C)

Sizzling nicely

Hypoallergenic Leek Filling

Ready to stuff into something

     Leeks have a rich, mellow flavor that deserves to show up in more dishes than just potato-leek soup. This filling is delicious in omelettes, inside baked potatoes, on rice crackers, and in fried pastries. It also contains no common allergens.

     2 Tb. olive or other oil (See Oil in the Glossary)
     2 c. washed, chopped leeks
     1/2 tsp. salt (See Salt in the Glossary)
     (totally optional) handful of washed, chopped parsley 

          leaves (See Produce in the Glossary)
     1 clove garlic, crushed 
     1/2 tsp. dried dill weed or a few sprigs of fresh dill weed, 

          chopped (See Spices or Produce in the Glossary)
     sprinkle of black pepper (See Spices in the Glossary)

Chopped leeks

     Heat the oil to medium in a skillet, and add the chopped leeks and salt. Sauté gently, stirring frequently, until the leeks are translucent and wilted. Do not brown. Add the parsley and garlic and cook another minute or so, until the garlic is translucent. Stir in the  dill weed and black pepper. Add 1/4 c. water, cover and simmer about 15 minutes, until the leek is quite tender and the water has evaporated (you may need to uncover the skillet near the end). 

     

Almost done sauteing