SPINACH AND FETA PIE
Some recipes are serendipitious. This week I had some “imperfect” spinach, a large bag of greens, supposedly imperfect, that our big supermarkets are selling to help reduce food wastage.
What to make? Well spinach and feta pie seemed a good idea, a super easy bake and a delicious eat!
200g fresh spinach
2 eshallots
A handful of chopped parsley and/or mint
200g feta
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, grated fresh, if you have it
2 free-range eggs
Black pepper
Sea salt to taste (feta is salty!)
6 sheets of filo
Olive oil for brushing filo sheets
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.
Place the spinach in a shallow frying pan and add ¼ cup of water. Heat just enough to wilt the spinach. Remove from heat, drain and cool.
Chop the eschallots finely and place in a bowl. Add the wilted spinach, chopping any large bits, and parsley and mint. Add the feta, nutmeg (and it really will make a difference to freshly grate it - but ground is ok too), beaten eggs and plenty of black pepper and salt to taste. Mix everything together.
Remove 6 sheets of filo from the fridge. Feel free to use more - many recipes specify more sheets, but I’m all about the filling, rather than the pastry!
Using a pastry brush, brush a little olive oil in a 20cm flan tin or a spring form pan or a round baking dish. Lay one sheet into the tin, with the edges hanging over the side. Brush with oil. Lay the second sheet, moving the pan round 180°, and brush with oil, and letting the edges hang over. Continue with the remaining four sheets, brushing with oil and moving the pan each time.
Place the mixture into a filo pastry lined pan. Fold the overhanging edges over the top, no need to be neat, scrunching as you go. Brush the top of the pie with a little more oil.
Place the pie in the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes, or until the pie is crispy, brown and crackly on top.
Remove from the oven. Serve warm or at room temperature. Tip - don’t leave out at room temperature for an extended period as the filo goes soggy! I learnt the hard way!
Serve with a crisp green salad, lemon wedges and yoghurt if you like.