Cheats Spanakopita

I love spinach and pastry so for me Spanakopita is a perfect dish. If I make it a weekday night then I’ll resort to using ready-made puff pastry, as I don’t like to take the time to layer filo pastry.

To make it you’ll need:

500g frozen leaf spinach or 1.5kg fresh spinach

1 white onion finely chopped

5 tbsp finely chopped parsley

5 tbsp finely chopped dill

1 packet of feta cheese

1 packet of ricotta cheese

3 eggs

And some optional spices – I use some fennel seeds, cumin seeds and freshly grated nutmeg

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Ready-rolled puff pastry

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

If using frozen spinach, heat it up in a pan with a dash of water and let it slowly defrost. Takes about 10 minutes. If using fresh spinach, rinse it and place in a large pan over medium heat until wilted. Pour the spinach into a colander and squeeze out any excess water and set aside until cool.

Pour some olive oil into a pan and add the fennel and cumin seeds if using, and let them fry for 30 seconds before adding the finely chopped onion. Cook until soft and translucent. Add the onion into a mixing bowl and take the wilted spinach and roughly chop it before adding it to the onion in the mixing bowl.

Add the chopped parsley, dill, feta, ricotta and nutmeg (if using). Pour in the eggs (saving a little to brush the pastry with) and mix again.

Add the spinach mixture to a oven proof dish and cover with the puff pastry and brush it with the egg wash. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden.

Vegging out

Nights drawing in and I’ve gone into hibernation mode, craving hearty food. But trying to stay reasonably healthy at the same time. Halfway house has been cooking vegetables, being inspired by Hugh’s latest TV series. These are some of the dishes from his latest book which I tried this week. Both are quite easy to make, both under 1 hour from start to finish, and they taste great.

The Beetroot Tarte Tatin is easy to make. I bought mini pre-cooked beets from Sainsburys. These were in vinegar already, so you need to change the quantities in the recipe, adding less vinegar and more sugar. I started by adding some olive oil, butter, 2 tbsp of apple vinegar and soft brown sugar to a skillet pan (that fits your oven). Once it’s all melting and coming together, toss in the halved beets and warm them through. Turn all the small beets with their halved sides facing upward. Add the ready rolled puff pastry and trim off the excess using some kitchen scissors and place the skillet pan in the oven. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees until the pastry is well risen. Once cooled a bit, turn it out onto a plate. I served it with some salad around the tarte.

We also tried the sweet potato ‘satay sauce’ gratain. Taking 4 large sweet potatoes, cutting them into thin slices using a mandolin. Placing the slices in a bowl and mixing in some sunflower oil 200ml cream (I used single rather than double), a small diced red chilli and 1 garlice clove finely chopped. Adding a bit of salt and pepper. Then adding half of the slices to a gratin, oven proof dish. Then taking 90g peanut butter (150g felt too much), mixing it in a bowl with a bit of oil and 50m of the cream until smooth. Add a layer of this on top of the sweet potato before placing the remaining slices on top. Salt and pepper on top and bake in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees (20 minutes covered in foil, 30 minutes without foil). We served it with some blue cheese which cut through the slightly sweet and fragrant gratin.