aka Amber Fox Kitchen

Nasty's Birthday Phyllo Pie

To make "squeezed zucchini," grate up four cups of fresh zucchini, salt it lightly and let it sit for 20 minutes, then with your hands, wring it out until you have extracted as much water as you can (the more the better).

• one recipe of duxelles
• 1 package (about 40 leaves) of phyllo pastry, thawed
• 1 lb (0.5 kg) melted butter
• 2 cups white bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp each salt, balck pepper, dry thyme
• squeezed grated zucchini, as above
• 2 carrots, minced

1. using a brush and your melted butter, butter a jelly roll pan that's a bit smaller than your sheets of phyllo
2. put on a sheet of phyllo, and brush it generously with butter; add another sheet, butter again ... repeat 20 times
3. mix salt, pepper and thyme into the breadcrumbs
4. spread 3/4 of the crumbs over the phyllo
5. scatter bits of zucchini and carrot over the crumbs
6. scatter on the rest of the crumbs, drizzle with butter
7. scatter the duxelles over the crumbs
8. layer on the rest of the phyllo as above; drizzle butter generously over the top layer, being sure to get all the corners and sticky-up bits to prevent their burning
9. bake in a slow oven (about 325 F, 160 C) until the phyllo is brown and crispy on top (half an hour to an hour); serve right away for best effect

You should have used up all the butter by the time you finish 40 layers; if one is too careful with the butter, the phyllo does not puff.

If you've never used phyllo before: phyllo pastry is paper-thin sheets of white-flour dough that acts like puff pastry when you butter it generously; you could make it yourself, but darling, this recipe is going to take you hours anyway with the duxelle and everything, so do yourself a favour and use frozen. Thaw it in the package, unwrap it at the last minute and always keep it covered with a barely-damp towel to keep it from drying out while working.

Needless to say, with all that butter in it, this dish is delicious and will probably get eaten up right away, but should any remain it is OK heated up the next day for lunch.