Every once in a while, we get a real urge to go through all of our cupboards, throw out the old and unusable and hopefully reacquaint ourselves with things we’d forgotten all about. It’s a random urge – it doesn’t matter what the season – where we feel like we absolutely HAVE to de-clutter right this second. (A direct reaction to the “immigrant mentality” of having to hoard everything.) Last weekend, we started pulling things off the shelves and realised that there were some things that we just can’t eat – Thai green curry paste, massaman curry paste, Hello Kitty noodles – because they contained a derivative of shellfish that we’re both allergic to. Oh and because they expired in 2009. Whoops. We felt completely cleansed afterwards. It means we have much more room to store kitchen essentials and at the very least, we aren’t attacked by spices and random jars every time we open up the cupboards. (Does anyone else have this problem?)

One thing that we also discovered was a jar of fig jam that we picked up on our trip to Croatia earlier this spring. We’re forever buying local foods whenever we travel because they look interesting and then get home and forget about it for a while. (Gochujang, kaya jam, dried limes, even sweet paprika.) We don’t eat a lot of toast anymore and we could have used it up in a cake, but we’re busy/lazy ladies and were determined to use it in the easiest recipe we could think of! We thought the sweet jam would go perfectly with lean chicken and tart goat’s cheese and, taking a leaf out of Maria Elia’s book wrapped it up in filo to continue the Mediterranean theme.

The result was a gorgeous quick lunch or snack, just in time for summer! (Or what’s left of it – am I right? AM I RIGHT?) The greatest thing about using filo is that even if it tears when you’re using it, even if you aren’t the most dainty of cooks, the result always looks pretty impressive. To us anyway.

You’re welcome in advance 🙂

Makes 8 parcels

2 sheets filo pastry dough
100g cooked chicken, cubed
3 tbsp fig jam
50g goat’s cheese, cubed
70g butter, melted
handful of sesame seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan-assisted).
2. Cut each sheet into 4 strips, using a sharp knife. You should be left with 8 strips.
3. Using a pastry brush, brush the melted butter all over the filo strips liberally. (You definitely don’t want the filo to dry out!)
4. Using a teaspoon, add an equal portion of chicken, jam and goat’s cheese to one end of each strip. Let’s say the right hand side of the strip. Then fold down the north-eastern corner diagonally to the south western corner. Fold the south eastern corner to the north western corner, and so on, until the strip is finished and you’re left with a triangular pastry. Don’t worry if it tears, honestly.
5. Do the same with the other 7 strips.
6. Brush each triangle liberally with butter and sprinkle sesame seeds on top of each one.
7. Bake for 15 minutes until golden.
8. Enjoy immediately as a snack or as a light lunch.

So what do you think? Feel free to share your questions and comments below! We’d love to hear what you have to say.