THINK family lunch and a tasty pie sufficient to feed ten hungry guests using fresh spinach, crumbled feta, potatoes and cumin All combine to make this a wonderfully wholesome pie – which is a doddle to make. If there are any leftovers (which I doubt) you can then enjoy it cold the next day or warm it up in the oven.
Ingredients.
Serves ten portions
1kg potatoes. (Unpeeled)
1tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 level tbsp cumin seeds
450g washed spinach
2 x 200g packs of feta cheese crumbled
2 medium eggs beaten
200g pack filo pastry
50g melted butter.
Method.
Put the potatoes in a pan of salted water. Cover and bring to the boil.
Cook for 15-20 minutes until tender.
Drain and cool then peel and slice.
Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion for 10 minutes until soft (not brown)
Add the garlic and cumin and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the spinach and cook until it has just wilted – about 1-2 minutes.
Tip into a bowl and allow to cool.
Now add the potatoes, feta and eggs and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix all together.
Pre heat the oven to 200c (180c for fan oven) gas mark 6.
Lightly butter a 28cmx3cm tart tin.
Unroll (carefully) the filo pastry and use kitchen scissors to cut the sheets lengthways into three.
Work with one third of the strips at a time and cover the rest with cling-film to keep it moist.
Lay a strip on the tin, starting from the middle so that half hangs over the tin and half hangs over the edge. Brush generously with butter then lay another strip next to it slightly overlapping and brush again. Repeat but make sure you work swiftly as filo needs to be dealt with at speed so it doesn’t go dry and awful. Keep layering like this until the tin is covered and all the pastry has been used up. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside any broken bits of pastry.
Next tip the filling into the middle and flatten out the edges.
Quickly fold in the overhanging pastry making sure that the broken pieces you have set aside act as filling for any gaps. Drizzle with the remaining melted butter then bake in the oven for 45 minutes until cooked though and golden brown. Serve with a green salad.
