Recipe Cook-Off: Amateurs Vs. Pros

Four of our favorite chefs and four of our favorite GO readers face-off with their best Thanksgiving recipes.

Pro/Appetizer

DEBORAH’S CRISPY PUMPKIN PHYLLO TRIANGLES WITH SAGE AND SWEET FENNEL SAUSAGE

When Deborah Stanton’s creative voice became too loud to ignore, she jumped head first into the Culinary World. Taking over her first kitchen as chef at The Galaxy in NYC, gained Deborah great recognition for pioneering the use of hemp in her “knock-out global cooking.” Since then she has been featured in numerous magazines such as Food and Wine, New York Magazine and Time Out. She is currently the owner and chef of her NYC restaurant Deborah, and recently opened OKO frozen yogurt in Park Slope.

INGREDIENTS

1 box phyllo dough

32-oz. can of pumpkin

1 egg

3 tbsp. light brown sugar

1 stick butter, melted

1 pastry brush

1 small bunch fresh sage leaves
1 pastry brush

1 medium Spanish onion, cut into small cubes

1 lb. sweet Italian fennel sausage (can substitute with turkey or veggie sausage)

fresh spinach leaves, if large cut in half

salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Cut sausage into 1/2-in. pieces and place in sauté
pan with onions over medium heat. When sausage
is cooked and onion caramelized, remove with slotted spoon.

In mixing bowl combine egg, sausage, onions, and pumpkin with brown sugar and mix.

Remove 9–10 sage leaves, stack together and slice thinly. Add sage, pinch of salt and 2 tsp. black pepper to mixture. Unroll phyllo and place damp kitchen towel over dough.

Remove 1 sheet of phyllo and lay flat. With pastry brush apply a light coat of melted butter over dough. Sprinkle layer with salt. Removing another sheet and lay on top of finished sheet. Repeat steps until you have completed 5 layers. Cut phyllo lengthwise into 3 equal strips.

Place a few leaves of spinach on bottom of first row of phyllo. Place 1 1/2 tbsp. of pumpkin mixture onto leaves. Holding down left corner lift bottom right corner and fold it over your pumpkin mixture so it meets top left side. You should be looking at a triangle with an open left side. Take bottom left corner and fold straight up, tightly roll triangle so bottom left corner comes to meet the top right. Repeat process with remaining dough.

Place triangles edge side down on un-greased baking sheet 1 in. apart. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 15 to 20 min., or until golden brown and crispy.


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