Spinach and Feta Filo Pie

As a vegetarian, a lot of my meals can seem a bit meat-less to a meat eater. This, however, is one of those that I would happily feed to anyone as a main course; its hearty, filling and doesn’t feel a lack of meat. That is definitely essential from time to time – especially when I cook for my mum who is not veggie. I think if you grow up as a vegetarian you don’t feel the lack of the hearty, meaty meals and whilst I don’t miss meat per se, I do miss casseroles and pies. So it’s really important to me to have a good repertoire of veggie alternatives to those meals!

In the background is the sneaky additional recipe in this post…

This pie was inspired by a recipe from a Greek cookbook, the Greeks have a lot of delicious veggie-friendly meals, as do the Italians. All about the Mediterranean cooking guys! I changed up the recipe to make it a smaller quantity and to remove the ingredients I didn’t like, so this is the result. I can’t help but tweak those recipes!

Here we go!

Ingredients

250g fresh spinach, washed
250g frozen spinach (or continue with just 250g more fresh spinach)
A bunch of spring onions (say 6-8)
2 eggs
200g Feta, crumbled (wensleydale would also work nicely and chuck some chopped hazlenuts in with it)
1 tbsp chopped parsley
5 sheets filo pastry
Ground black pepper
Oil

It looks more appetising in real life, I need to work on my food photography!

Method

1. Pop the frozen spinach in a pan, with some water. Warm on a medium heat until defrosted, then add the fresh spinach until a little wilted. Drain and leave draining until needed.
2. Wash then chop the spring onions and place in a large bowl. Add the eggs, feta (or alternative), parsley and a good amount of black pepper. 
3. Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5. 
4. Oil a 20cm pie dish, then oiling each filo sheet as you go, line the dish. Use four of the sheets for this. Place each sheet with one end near the centre of the dish and let the other end hang over the edge, overlapping as you go round. 
5. If necessary, use kitchen towel to soak up any excess water from the spinach and mix well with the other ingredients. 
6. Spoon the mixture into the lined dish. Oil the last sheet and crumple on top, then fold the overhanging sheets back over the pie to cover it all up. 
7. Brush the top of the pie with oil and place the dish on a baking tray. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, or until golden and crispy.
8. Serve hot or cold. It works nicely with a tomato salad or greek salad (of course) and some garlic bread if you want more carbs 😛

I hope you are tempted by this recipe. I make it a lot during the week as it’s quite simple and relaxing yet so filling and tasty. 

Additional recipe, sneaky dessert!

You may have a filo sheet left over from your pack (they often come in 6’s). If so, oil it up then pop either 6 squares of chocolate (stacked 3 on top of the other 3) or a good three tablespoons of nutella or jam about 3cm from an edge in the centre of a short side. Then roll it a couple of times, fold in the sides and continue rolling to the end of the sheet. Place this on an oiled sheet of baking paper on a baking tray. Oil the outside of the pastry and bake for 20 mins at the same temperature as the pie. 

I hope you enjoyed this, my food posts may not be my most read posts but nor are they not read, so I will continue sharing with you the food I love 🙂

Fleur xoxo

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