Green filo spiral pie

Name: Green filo spiral pie
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 60 g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing; 1 tbsp olive oil; 275 g leeks, finely sliced, washed in warm water and well drained; 250 g frozen whole leaf spinach, defrosted; 3 British Blacktail Free Range Medium Eggs, 2 beaten, 1 yolk only; 250 g Waitrose Duchy Organic Cottage Cheese; 100 g feta, crumbled; 3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted in a dry pan; ¼ tsp grated nutmeg; 20 g mixed soft herbs, roughly chopped (dill, tarragon, mint, parsley or any combination); 270 g filo pastry; 1 tbsp sesame seeds (white and black, preferably)

This Elly Curshen pie is inspired by the spiral filo pies popular in Turkey and Greece. This one has a filling of leeks, spinach and mixed herbs.

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Vegetarian

Serves4
CourseLunch
Prepare25 mins
Cook40 mins
Total time1 hr 5 mins
Pluscooling

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Ingredients

60g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
1 tbsp olive oil
275g leeks, finely sliced, washed in warm water and well drained
250g frozen whole leaf spinach, defrosted
3 British Blacktail Free Range Medium Eggs, 2 beaten, 1 yolk only
250g Waitrose Duchy Organic Cottage Cheese
100g feta, crumbled
3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted in a dry pan
¼ tsp grated nutmeg
20g mixed soft herbs, roughly chopped (dill, tarragon, mint, parsley or any combination)
270g filo pastry
1 tbsp sesame seeds (white and black, preferably)

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C, gas mark 5 and place a baking sheet in to heat up. Butter then line the base of a 25cm loose-bottomed tart tin with baking parchment.
Warm the olive oil in a frying pan over a low heat, add the leeks and a pinch of salt then cook gently for about 10-15 minutes, or until starting to go translucent. Add the defrosted spinach and cook until as much moisture as possible has evaporated. Leave to cool.
Combine the cooked leeks and spinach in a bowl with the 2 whole eggs, cottage cheese, feta, pine nuts, nutmeg and herbs. Season with 1 tsp sea salt flakes and some black pepper. Mix well to combine.
Lay a sheet of filo out on a sheet of greaseproof paper, on a large work surface. Brush it all over with melted butter. Lay another sheet on top. Spread ¼ of the mixture all over the pastry as evenly as you can. It’ll be a little sparse, but don’t worry. Overfilling at this stage will lead to disaster.
Start by folding a 3cm border over, on both of the short ends. Standing with the rectangle of pastry landscape and longside towards you, fold up about 3cm of the bottom edge then carefully start rolling gently (more of a fold than a roll – you don’t want to squeeze the filling out). Once you’ve got all the way to the top, coil the sausage around the inside of the tin – start at the outside and work your way to the centre. Keep going, making more filo ‘sausages’ and continually coiling them into the centre. You want it nice and tightly packed in. If your packet of filo only has 7 sheets, just use a single layer on the last section. Brush the filo sheet with butter then add the filling and roll up as before.
Mix the remaining 1 tbsp melted butter with the egg yolk, then use to brush the top all over, as a glaze, and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Bake on the preheated baking tray for 40 minutes, or until the pie is firm to touch, golden brown and risen. Leave to cool for a few inutes before serving, or leave to cool and freeze (in the tin, well wrapped) and defrost and heat through thoroughly when ready to serve.