One of the dishes we had for lunch on Saturday after Issy's christening was a delicious spinach & feta pie. After checking with my sister yesterday as to how hard or easy it was to make, and finding out it was pretty easy (yay), I got the recipe from her and gave it a whirl. The results...yum!
adapted from jamie oliver's 30 minute meals (thank you jamie)
100g pine nuts (i omitted the pine nuts)
5 eggs
300g feta cheese
50g Cheddar cheese
dried oregano
1 lemon
a good knob of butter or olive oil
400g pre-washed spinach
1x 270g pack of filo pastry
cayenne pepper (i omitted & used a sprinkle of normal pepper)
1 whole nutmeg (i just used a sprinkle of nutmeg - don't like it too nutmeggy)
Get all your ingredients and equipment ready. Turn the oven on to 200°C
Put a medium ovenproof frying pan on a medium heat.
Put the pine nuts into the dry ovenproof frying pan to toast, tossing occasionally. Keep an eye on them. Crack 5 eggs into a mixing bowl and crumble in 300g of feta. Grate in 50g of Cheddar. Add a pinch of pepper, a couple of pinches of dried oregano, zest of 1 lemon (i used a little lemon juice instead) and a lug (love that Jamie word) of olive oil. Once the nuts are light golden, add them to the egg mixture and mix well.
Put the empty frying pan back on the heat, add a little olive oil and a knob of butter and pile in half of the spinach. Gently push and move it around and add more as it wilts down. Make sure it doesn’t catch on the bottom and when there’s room, start adding the rest, stirring frequently.
*Meanwhile, take the pastry out of the fridge. Lay a large sheet of greaseproof paper, approximately 50cm long, on the worktop, rub a little olive oil all over it, then scrunch it up and lay it out flat again. Arrange 4 filo pastry sheets in a large rectangle, overlapping at the edges, so they almost cover the paper. Rub some olive oil over them. Sprinkle over a good pinch of salt & pepper and a pinch of cayenne. Repeat until you have 3 layers. Don’t worry about any cracked bits. Remember to keep stirring the spinach.
Once the spinach has wilted, take the pan off the heat. Add spinach to the egg mixture (i drained some of the liquid off first) and grate in ½ a nutmeg (or a sprinkle of nutmeg if you don't want to use a whole nutmeg). Mix well. Carefully move the greaseproof paper and filo into the empty frying pan so the edges spill over. Push it down into the sides of the pan, then pour in the egg mixture and spread it out. Fold the filo sheets over the top and let them fall where they will (see Jamie's how to video).
Put the pan back on a medium heat for a couple of minutes to get the bottom cooking, then put the pan into the oven on the top shelf to cook for 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden and crisp.
* I don't have an oven proof pan so I just wilted the spinach in my frypan and then put the filo in my lasagne dish and added the spinach mixture. Also I just used olive oil spray on my filo sheets instead of rubbing them with oil. Worked just as well.
Delish! Thanks Lynne xx
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