I was off to John and Tom’s for some dinner and Doctor Who last night, and I needed a little something to take along. This is another recipe from the Mezze book that Neil got me for my birthday, and I already had my eye on it as spinach and feta is such a lovely combination.
They are very easy to make, and very tasty – they certainly went down well with the boys. The amounts listed here made about 16 pastries, which is plenty for a group to snack on. The recipe says to serve them hot, but I have to say they are still just as nice cold the next day.
Makes about 16
500g of fresh spinach, trimmed, washed and drained
2 tablespoons of olive oil, plus a little extra for brushing
1 tablespoon of butter
2 onions, chopped
3 heaped tablespoons of pine nuts
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon of ground allspice
150g of feta, crumbled with your fingers
A small bunch of dill, finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Plain flour for dusting
450g of ready rolled puff pastry
Steam the spinach until soft and floppy. Drain and then refresh under cold running water. Squeeze out all the excess liquid with your hands. Roughly chop.
Heat the oil and butter in a large, heavy bottomed pan and gently fry the onion until softened. Add 2 tablespoons of the pine nuts and cook for 2-3 minutes more until both the onion and the pine nuts starts to turn golden.
Stir in the chopped spinach and the lemon juice, then add the allspice and chopped dill, and lightly toss in the crumbled feta. Stir well to combine, season with salt and pepper and then leave to cool.
Peheat the oven to 180
Roll out the pastry, on a lightly floured surface, into thin sheets. Using a 10cm cutter, cut out as many rounds as you can.
Once you’ve finished, take each round and spoon a little of the spinach mixture into the centre. (I found that about 1½ heaped teaspoons was about right.) Pull the sides up to make a pyramid, by pinching the edges together with your fingertips. (It doesn’t matter if the edges part during cooking, so there’s no need to dampen them in order to create a seal.)
Lightly grease two baking trays and pop the pastries on them. Lightly brush the pastries with a little oil and then bake them in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden.
About 5 minutes before the pastries are ready, toast the remaining tablespoon of pine nuts. (I usually do this in a hot frying pan, but you could also make a little tin foil tray and pop them in the oven for 5 minutes)
Remove the pastries from the oven, arrange them on a serving plate and sprinkle over the toasted pine nuts.
cookingwithneil 