Spanakopita (Feta and Spinach Pie)

I'd never used fillo (or filo/phyllo) pastry before trying this recipe, but it turns out it's rather easy to work with. If you're using frozen fillo pastry then you'll need to get it out and put it in the fridge the day before you want to use it.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 230g spinach, washed and roughly chopped
• 2 tsp parsley or mixed herbs
• 200g feta cheese, finely chopped
• 2 eggs, yolk and white lightly beaten together
• 14 sheets of fillo pastry
• 100ml olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.
2. Place the spinach, 1/2 tsp olive oil and herbs in a large pan, cover with a lid and heat over a medium heat.
3. After about 5 to 10 minutes the spinach should have cooked down to a dark green mass. When it has, removed the pan from the heat and place it to one side to cool.
4. Once the pan has cooled for 5 minutes add the feta and egg to the spinach and mix well.
5. Use a pastry brush to coat the inside of a deep roasting tin or large cake tin with olive oil. If you don't have a pastry brush then a rolled up stick of kitchen towel can work, but won't give as even coverage and you'll need to watch for leaving behind bits of paper!
6. Place a sheet of fillo pastry into the dish and brush olive oil over it. If it's a bit too large for the dish then trim it down a bit or, if it's not too much bigger, just fold over the edges into the dish.
7. Repeat with more sheets of fillo pastry until you've got 7 layers in total.
8. Next spread the feta and spinach mixture over the inner layer of pastry.
9. Add the remaining sheets of fillo pastry to the top of the dish, on top of the feta and spinach mixture.
10. Place in the oven and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the top is a nice light golden colour.
11. Serve on it's own or with a tomato salad.

Serves 3.