Spinach Pastilla Pie
If ever there was a cunning way to get children to eat their greens, this is it. Okay, so it is probably cheating (Tati, my eldest, would eat almost anything if it had a few raisins thrown in), but it is nonetheless a delicious meat-free pie that you can make as a glamorous side dish for a dinner party or a very luxurious-tasting weekend supper. Even my husband joins the fray when fighting for the last piece. The cayenne lends a very mild bite to the dish, but alter it according to taste.
Ingredients
You will need a frying pan with an ovenproof handle or a shallow, round baking dish, 23-25cm diameter
90g currants
a splash of rum (optional)
3 tbsp pine nuts
500g spinach, washed, large stalks removed
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, plus a little for dusting
100g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
75g feta, crumbled
2 eggs, lightly beaten
zest of 1 lemon
70g melted butter
4 sheets of filo pastry
a pinch of icing sugar, for dusting
Recipe
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Cover the currants with boiling water and if you have a little rum add a splash. Bake the pine nuts in the oven until golden brown.
Cook the spinach in a large pan over a medium heat, sprinkle with 3 tablespoons of water and season generously with salt and pepper. Once it’s wilted, squeeze the spinach through a sieve to get rid of excess water, then roughly chop.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan, then add the onion and cook for 5–10 minutes, until translucent and soft. Stir in the garlic, then season with salt and cayenne pepper. Add the drained spinach to the pan and heat through. Drain the currants and add to the spinach along with the pine nuts. Add the Parmesan, feta, eggs and lemon zest and allow to cool.
Grease the ovenproof pan with melted butter. Lay 3 sheets of filo pastry in the tin at angles, brushing them with butter as you go, making sure that some of the sheets hang over the sides of the pan. You want a pastry overhang of about 8–10cm so that you can fold it back over the filling to bake in the oven. Now fill the pastry with the spinach mixture.
Place the last piece of filo on top of the filling and fold in the overhanging pastry. Brush again with the melted butter and bake for 15–20 minutes or until the pastry is golden. If you like, transfer to the hob and heat for a few minutes to ensure that the bottom is crisp.
Slide the pie out onto a large plate and dust lightly with cayenne pepper and a little icing sugar. This makes a very good dinner with a mixed leaf salad.
Tip
If you want less of a bite use sweet smoked paprika or Turkish chilli flakes in the recipe instead of the cayenne.