Air-Roasted Vegetables in a Phyllo Wrap Make a Great Crunchy Snack

Any vegetable can be turned into a crunchy snack. Yes, even those weird ones you would never think of snacking on. They just need a thin, crunchy, buttery partner to really shine.

This simple appetizer reminds me of freshly sautéed tempura vegetables, but it’s not deep fried, it’s a puff wrap instead of airy dough, but once you take a bite of it, you’ll understand the comparison. Both crispy crusts are tender and light and bring out the flavor of the vegetables inside. Somehow, this combination actually turns the humblest vegetable into a delicacy.

How to cook vegetable phyllo sticks?

Dig through the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator, vegetable bowl, cellar, or wherever you store food, and pull out excess vegetables. Everything is fair. Green onions, shallots, celery, garlic – if you can coat the product with fat and salt and wrap it with phyllo, then it’s fine. Cut, peel, remove seeds and prepare food accordingly.

Break the vegetables into sticks or pieces three to four inches long and about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. If you make the vegetable sticks much thicker, the filo dough may burn before the vegetables are fully cooked. I broke the green bell pepper into several strips and cut the asparagus, carrots, broccoli, shallots and green onions into small pieces. The broccoli florets will stretch about an inch, which is fine; this is the stem you want to keep thinner.

Transfer the chopped vegetables to a bowl and drizzle with enough oil to coat lightly. Sprinkle in 1/4 teaspoon or more salt and stir to season. You can also add herbs or spices at this point, but I’ve found that limiting the seasoning to salt allows you to bring out the quiet flavors of the foods.

Fluff up one sheet of thawed phyllo dough, taking care to wrap the remaining stack of phyllo so it doesn’t dry out. Using a pastry brush, brush half of the sheet with a layer of melted butter. Fold the unbuttered half over the oiled half. Oil the “new” side, which is now facing up. You create thin layers of dough and butter, so later when the butter melts and the dough becomes crispy, a flaky layer forms.

Sprinkle the top layer of butter with a little salt. Place a piece of vegetable on one end of the dough and start rolling it like a small vegetable cigar. Roll it all the way up and place seam side down. For the last time, brush the butter on top and on the very long ends of the vegetables that may be sticking out. Repeat this for all vegetables. For small cuts or thick vegetables such as shallots, broccoli florets, small potatoes or mushrooms, you can put two or three pieces into the dough before you start rolling it out.

In an air fryer preheated to 350°F, cook the vegetables in the phyllo wrap for a total of eight to 10 minutes on the “air fry” setting. Check them after five minutes and flip if necessary. If you are using vegetables with a lot of moisture, such as tomatoes or zucchini, they may need to be flipped in the middle to get the bottoms crispy.

Refrigerate the vegetable sticks for a short period of time, about five minutes, before placing them on the wire rack. Even the toughest vegetables were perfectly tender, not mushy, and the phyllo was golden brown and incredibly crunchy. Don’t forget to sprinkle the phyllo with salt before rolling it up. It may seem like overkill after you season the vegetables, but the dough needs some love too. Serve alone or with a bowl of reverse hollandaise sauce or your favorite sauce.

Phyllo vegetable sticks

Ingredients:

• 10-12 pieces of vegetables, cut into about ½ inch thick.
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon salt, plus more for sprinkling
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 10-12 sheets of filo pastry, defrosted

Set fryer to air fry and preheat to 350°F. Put the vegetables in a bowl. Drizzle with oil and half a teaspoon of salt. Stir to coat.

Working one sheet at a time, lay out the phyllo sheet on your work surface. Using a pastry brush, brush a small amount of melted butter over half of the dough. Fold the non-oiled side down onto the oiled end. Oil this “new” side up. Sprinkle the butter with a little salt. Add a vegetable stick to the end of the phyllo and roll it all the way through. Lay the stick seam side down to prevent it from unraveling. Brush the top with a little more butter. Repeat this for all vegetables.

Cook in deep fryer at 350°F for eight to 10 minutes, checking after five minutes to see if they need to be flipped. Cool slightly on a wire rack before eating.