We are huge fans of egg rolls in my household. Everything from your classic Filipino egg roll, to hot dog egg rolls, Chinese style shrimp egg rolls, heck even Thanksgiving Day egg rolls, Reuben egg rolls and to top them off Mexican egg rolls. You can see, we love egg rolls. There was one idea I had where I wanted my wife to experience a couple of things she has never had before; one being lamb, and the other being Kalamata olives. My pleasure out of all of this was a couple of things; seeing if my wife would know there were olives in the egg roll, and furthermore get a little bit of lamb in my belly as I have not had lamb, probably since high school.
When I was thinking of Mediterranean flavors, I quickly thought of lamb, feta cheese, and olives. I was also thinking of your classic Tzatziki sauce, along with mint and other wonderful flavors. I decided to stick with some of the basics on this one however, as I wanted the flavor of the lamb, feta, and olives to really shine.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of cooked lamb, cooked until 160 internal, chopped
- 18 sheets of Fillo dough, room temperature
- 1 cup of feta cheese, crumbled
- 1 large shallot, minced
- 3/4 cup of Kalamata olives, pitted, chopped
- Olive oil
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Start by laying 2 sheets of Fillo dough out on your workspace. Lightly brush oil on the top sheet. Add four more sheets of the Fillo dough on top of the two. Lightly brush with a bit more oil.
Add about 3/4 cup of the lamb mixture to the Fillo dough, closest to you, and make a bit of a log shape with it.
To the top of that add some of the olives, shallot, and feta cheese.
Fold over the fillo dough, and roll over, keeping the roll a bit tight, much like an egg roll. Fold over the edges a bit and continue rolling until you have your egg roll shape, keeping it seam side down.
Repeat with the remaining two.
Place these onto your baking sheet and lightly brush the top and sides with the olive oil.
Place these into the preheated oven and cook until they are a nice golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.
Using a spatula, carefully remove these from the baking sheet and onto your serving dish. You can either serve whole, or slice them in half, exposing the goodness.
Taking a bite yields awesome flavor. At first you get that wonderful texture from the Fillo dough, then comes in the roasted lamb, and the sharpness of the feta and kalamata olives. It’s a perfect marriage of flavor and puts a whole new spin on an egg roll. Hope you enjoy!
Middle Eastern Egg Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 cups of cooked lamb cooked until 160 internal, chopped
- 18 sheets of Fillo dough room temperature
- 1 cup of feta cheese crumbled
- 1 large shallot minced
- 3/4 cup of Kalamata olives pitted, chopped
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Start by laying 2 sheets of Fillo dough out on your workspace. Lightly brush oil on the top sheet. Add four more sheets of the Fillo dough on top of the two. Lightly brush with a bit more oil.
- Add about 3/4 cup of the lamb mixture to the Fillo dough, closest to you, and make a bit of a log shape with it.
- To the top of that add some of the olives, shallot, and feta cheese.
- Fold over the fillo dough, and roll over, keeping the roll a bit tight, much like an egg roll. Fold over the edges a bit and continue rolling until you have your egg roll shape, keeping it seam side down.
- Repeat with the remaining two.
- Place these onto your baking sheet and lightly brush the top and sides with the olive oil.
- Place these into the preheated oven and cook until they are a nice golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.
- Using a spatula, carefully remove these from the baking sheet and onto your serving dish. You can either serve whole, or slice them in half, exposing the goodness.
- Taking a bite yields awesome flavor. At first you get that wonderful texture from the Fillo dough, then comes in the roasted lamb, and the sharpness of the feta and kalamata olives. It's a perfect marriage of flavor and puts a whole new spin on an egg roll. Hope you enjoy!