~ Spanakopita ~

“Ok, what is that?”

“It’s a potato, gruyere and spinach spanakopita. I felt like making one so stop pulling faces. Tell Jasper dinner’s on the table.”

Riley leaned over the table to lift and peer under a few lids of the dishes there and rolled his eyes.

“We’re eating vegetarian tonight? We grow fricking meat, it’s our main crop, the freezer’s bursting at the seams –”

“So this will make a wonderful change, won’t it?” Paul said serenely, moving to let Dale get plates out of the warming oven.

“I bet David wouldn’t have eaten that,” Riley said half under his breath to Flynn as he headed to the door. Paul gave him a cheerful smile, bringing a bowl of salad to the table.

“No, but then I wouldn’t have spanked David for being rude about my cooking.”   
 ~ The Pumpkin Patch

Ingredients

320 g spinach

2 springs of fresh dill

4 shallots chopped

300 g gruyere cheese

100 g ricotta cheese

40 g hard grated cheese like parmesan

5 eggs

2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

60 mg olive oil

375 g pack of filo pastry, either fresh or well defrosted if frozen

185 g melted butter. 

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Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. 
2. Grease a flat baking sheet.
3. Remove stalks from spinach, wash, drain and shred the leaves. 
4. Mash up together the gruyere, ricotta, parmesan, eggs, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, pepper and oil. 
5. Add the spinach leaves, mix well and set aside. 

Now the fun part!

1. Spread the filo sheets out on a table or counter and cover with a dry tea towel and then a damp one to stop them drying out. 
2. Take one sheet at a time. brush the top surface with the melted butter, fold the bottom upward about two inches. 
3. Spoon spinach cheese filling in a line along the bottom leaving about an inch on either side, fold the pastry over the filling and then roll it up so it forms a long sealed roll. Twist it into a coil and place on your baking sheet. 
4. Repeat with each filo sheet, but keep wrapping each new roll onto the original spiral so it makes a continuous spiral until your pan is full or you run out of filling. 
5. Bake for about 40-50 minutes (keep checking) until crisp and golden, and let rest for about 15 mins before cutting into wedges like a cake and eating. 

(Meanwhile get out and defrost the hamburgers for the fussy folk.) 

Submitted by Ranger