Home made pies can make simple ingredients like spinach taste a little bit more special. The only downside to making a traditional spinach pie is that it can be time consuming, as there are a squillion leaves to wash and prepare.

This shortcut recipe makes it easy to cook a pie from scratch, as it is based on using mainly store cupboard and fridge/freezer ingredients.

It tastes good eaten hot or cold and is even better the next day. Perfect for supper, WFH lunch or a family picnic.

RECIPE

Spinach and Feta Cheese Pie

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 500 grams of frozen spinach
• 1 leek
• 2 eggs
• 1 (375g) packet of ready rolled puff pastry
• 1 (200g) packet of Greek Feta cheese
• 1 tspn fennel seeds
• 1 tspn dried dill
• 1 tspn grated nutmeg (optional)
• Olive oil
• salt and pepper
• milk or egg white (optional see step 14)

Method

1. Prepare baking tray/container by either greasing or covering with greaseproof paper.
2. Defrost spinach in advance and drain the excess water, using a sieve.
3. Cut leek in half lengthways and then slice thinly.
4. Fry leek in about 2 tbspns of olive oil. Add fennel seeds and continue frying for about a minute.
5. Add spinach, dill, nutmeg and a little salt and fry gently until leeks soften.
6. Transfer mixture to a bowl and allow to cool down.
7. In the meantime grate the feta cheese and beat the eggs.
8. Add feta cheese and eggs to spinach mixture and mix it all well.
9. Unroll the puff pastry and stretch it out a little with a rolling pin.
10. Carefully transfer the pastry onto the baking tray.
11. Spread spinach mixture onto the centre of the pastry, leaving a wide border on all sides.
12. Cover the spinach mixture with the pastry, taking the two longest sides first and overlapping one over the other (a bit like an envelope.) Seal pastry edges with water and then pinch together with your thumb and forefinger to make them adhere well.
13. Press down the top and bottom ends of the pie with a fork to seal and then fold them underneath the pie.
14. Prick the centre with a fork and glaze with milk or egg white.
15. Bake in oven at 180C/ 160 Fan/Gas Mark 4 for around 30 minutes, or until the pastry is crispy and golden brown in colour.

Food baked in an edible (and environmentally friendly!) wrapper locks in all the flavour and goodness of ingredients.

COOK’S NOTES

SPINACH

Using frozen spinach is a good substitute for fresh spinach as it cuts down substantially on preparation time. However it needs defrosting before mixing with the other ingredients. You also need to squeeze out all the excess water, using a sieve, otherwise it will make the pastry soggy..

PASTRY

Aiming for speed, I used ready rolled puff pastry and wrapped it around the spinach, aiming for a rustic look. This meant that I did not have to spend too long creating straight lines or symmetry.

If you wish to make a more traditional slab pie, use two lots of ready rolled puff pastry, for the top and bottom. Or for a more typically Greek pie, use filo pastry. The latter is more time consuming though, as you need to build up the layers individually.