Spanakopita

I love this meal, preparing and the demolishing of it! When made right, it’s a huge crowd pleaser; my tip is to prepare more filling so you get a good portion instead of too much flaky filo pastry.

Ingredients: serves 6

1kg frozen spinach

5 large peeled garlic cloves

1 large white onion

1 tspn ground nutmeg

250g feta cheese

100g grated parmesan

1 small bunch fresh dill

1 small bunch fresh parsley

4 eggs

Maldon sea salt

Cracked pepper

Olive oil

1 pack of filo pastry (from the fridge)

Method:

Add all of the frozen spinach to a large pot and keep the lid on allowing the spinach to defrost, once it has wilted in the pot keep cooking to allow all of the moisture to evaporate, now add the onion and finely sliced peeled garlic, with a good glug of olive oil and mix well, cook for approximately 5 minutes. Add the ground nutmeg, chopped dill and parsley and cook for another 5 minutes, set aside and leave to cool a little. Whilst the mix is chilling, grease a two inch baking tray with a little olive oil, then begin to layer the base with filo pastry, brush olive oil over this layer and repeat four times, the overhanging bits of pastry will be used to fold over on top of the spinach. Now add the feta cheese and grated parmesan, check for seasoning at this point then add four whisked eggs into the spinach mix, pour into the baking tray and evenly spread it out, fold the ends of pastry over and brush with a little more olive oil, now layer up the remaining sheets of filo pastry, brushing with a little olive oil each time. Once assembled, bake at 160 degrees for 45 minutes, the pastry should be lovely and golden. Serve up with some lovely roasted lemon infused potatoes and Greek salad.