Limousin Living
Living in the heart of France
Favourite Vegetarian Recipes
Spinach, Feta & Pine-nut pastries
This recipe can be made into triangles like samosas, or simply into croissant shapes as in this picture, or as one large strudel for serving in slices.
225g fresh leaf spinach
2 spring onions, chopped
175g feta cheese, crumbled
1 egg, beaten
15ml/1tbsp fresh dill, chopped
ground black pepper
15ml/1tbsp pine nuts, (optional)
4 large/8small sheets filo pastry, (or brick in France)
1 egg, beaten, for brushing
serves 4
1. Heat oven to 190C.
2. Blanch the washed spinach in just the water clinging to the leaves, until just wilted. Drain very well, pressing it through a sieve with the back of a wooden spoon. Chop it finely and mix with the onions, feta, egg, dill and ground black pepper.
3. If using pine nuts, toast them in a dry frying pan for a few minutes on a medium heat - stir and watch them closely so they don't burn. Add them to the filling mixture and stir them in.
4. If using brick (which is a very thin pastry usually 35cm in diameter and interleaved with greaseproof paper), cut each round in half, brush a little egg on the rounded edge and fold to the cut edge, making a long rectangle. If using filo, cut and fold so that you have a piece of pastry about 30cm long and 10cm wide. Brush the pastry with a little beaten egg so it will stick to itself.
5. Put a spoonful of the filling on one end of the pastry, fold that end over the filling diagonally to make a triangle, then keep folding the triangle over itself towards the other end of the strip. If you're making the croissant shapes (pictured above), put the filling across one corner of a square of pastry, roll it up firmly and curl the ends round into a crescent.
6. Place the triangle on a baking sheet and repeat with the rest of the pastry and filling. If you like, you can brush the tops of the triangles with egg and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.
7. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until golden and crisp. Best eaten warm.