Spanakopita Triangles

I love love love the combination of spinach and feta. Actually, I love spinach. I would eat spinach for every meal in some form or another (currently I'm averaging at about 3 meals a week). It has always been my absolutely favourite vegetable, I remember eating it straight from the tin as a teen, to the amusement of my family. My favourite dish as a kid was my Mum's version of ouef florentine... oh, YUM.

Spanakopita is so simple and oh so good. This recipe in the pie form has become one of my friend Rhona's staple dishes. You won't use all the filo pastry for this quantity of filling, so I suggest you wrap the remainder well in clingfilm and refridgerate for another meal (Unless you're making party quantities, in which case triple the filling). It's so easy to make something great with filo pastry.

1 packet of filo pastry
1 bunch of spring onions or 1 leek
400g spinach leaves, washed well
250g greek feta
A generous grating of nutmeg
50g pine nuts
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
Poppy and/or sesame seeds for decoration

Preheat your oven to 180C/gas mark 5. Lightly grease a large baking tray.

1, Slice your spring onions/leek into medium sized dice and fry gently in a large pan until softened.
2, Add the spinach leaves, a handful at a time until wilted. The spinach will reduce in size quite quickly, so just add another handful, stir and leave for a minute.
3, When all the spinach is in the pan and wilted, remove from the heat.
4, Break the block of feta over the pan with your fingers. Don't be too worried about size - stir it well and it will break down.
5, In a dry pan, toast the pine nuts until golden in colour.
6, Add the nutmeg, pine nuts, salt and pepper to the mixture, stir well and taste.

7, Roll out the filo pastry and cut length ways into 3 - this should be about 10 cm in width.
8, Take on sheet of filo and brush lightly with olive oil.
9, Take a tablespoonful of mixture and place at one end of the filo strip.
10, Take one corner of the filo over the mixture to make a triangle. Continue to fold until the filo is over.
11, Brush the top with olive oil and place on the baking tray.
12, When the baking tray is full, sprinkle with the seeds and place in the oven until golden.

Vegetarian Dolmades

A lovely colleague, V, suggested that I post my vegetarian recipe for dolmades. It actually occured to me that I prefer the veggie version, too. They taste more authentic and are lighter in texture.

1 packet vine leaves (I use Cypressa)
300g long grain rice, par cooked (about 5-8 mins)
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
3 tablespoons tomato purée
4 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetarian stock


Follow the instructions for the meat version below to make up the dolmades.
When it comes to cooking them, make up the veggie stock to cover and cook them in the oven.

Dolmades

1 packet vine leaves (I use Cypressa)
400g lamb mince
100g rice, par cooked
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
3 tablespoons tomato puree
2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon

½ tsp mixed spice

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 5

1, Lightly brown the onion and then add the garlic for a minute to soften.

2, In a large bowl, mix the all of the ingredients together - apart from the vine leaves.

3, In another bowl, cover the vine leaves in boiling water and soak for about 5-10 minutes.

4, Place a vine leaf flat on your worktop, vein side up. Cut the stalk off, carefully trying not to damage the leaf itself - just taking the tip of the stalk.

5, Depending on the size of the leaf put about a thumb sized amount of the rice filling onto the centre of the leaf, the length across the leaf.


6, Roll bottom of leaf over the filling.

7, Tuck the right side over the filling to create a right angle at the side.

8, Tuck the left side over, as above.


9, Roll the tucked leaf towards the top (creating a cylinder/dolmade shape)

10, Place the rolled dolmade in a casserole dish in a circle seems to work best for me building up as many layers you require to use up what you have left.

11, Cover the dolmades almost to the top with water, then put a plate on top to weight them down in the oven.

12, Cook for 45 minutes to an hour. To test, cut a dolmade in half and look for signs of uncooked meat. If in doubt, return to the oven. If you own a food probe, you're looking for about 65C.

13, Serve warm or cold - both are equally delicious. Tzatiki is a must.

My Greek Feast

On Saturday morning, the sun popped it's elusive head through the clouds. My sister was staying, as was my best friend - so we made a trip to the West End. First we stopped at the Rutland Hotel for a breakfast, which I would strongly recommend not patronising. The food has been disappointing the two times I've been, and always takes far too long to arrive.

Next, to the farmer's market to buy some lamb mince from Reiver Farm to make dolmades. And after such a disappointing breakfast, we treated ourselves (not the sister) to a mulled cider from the
Thistly Cross and a sweet almond pastry from Valvona and Crolla.

It felt like Spring again - after such a long, cold winter. I always get a little carried away with the first signs of Spring and decide it's time to eat outdoors again - and it very much isn't. We made ourselves an indoor picnic, looking out over my view.

The first 'picnic' of the year consisted of spanakopita triangles, houmous, tzatizi, dolmades and falafel, and we spent the morning making it all.

Sadly, little sister had to leave to catch her train before she could share the feast - but we enjoyed it!