Serves five
Ingredients
50ml olive oil
2 shallots, finely sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 bullet chillies, chopped
2 large bunches spinach, stalks removed and leaves shredded
1 bunch Swiss chard, stalks removed and leaves shredded
1 white leek, diced to 1cm and sweated in butter until tender
150g barrel aged feta cheese
60g parmesan cheese, grated
1/3 cup currants
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon dried mint
Zest 1 lemon
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
4 sheets ready prepared filo pastry**
100g unsalted butter, clarified
Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based large pot
2. Add the shallots, garlic and chilli and stir over a medium heat for a few minutes until they soften
3. Turn the heat right up and add the spinach and Swiss chard. Stir for a minute or so until the greens collapse down, then tip everything out into a sieve and sit it over the sink to let the liquid drain away
4. Press on it firmly to help the process along a bit. When you’ve extracted as much moisture as you can, put the spinach mixture into the fridge to chill
5. Preheat the oven to 200°C
6. Take the spinach mixture out of the fridge and crumble in the feta. Add the nutmeg, lemon zest and mint, and season with a little sea salt and pepper
7. Brush sheets of filo pastry with clarified butter. Place the buttered filo pastry at the bottom of a heavy cast iron black pan.
8. Brush 2 more sheets and cover the bottom of the pan.
9. Divide the mixture into 5 portions. Scatter a small pile and place the spinach mixture into the centre of the pastry. Brush the side with butter and bring all the sides of the pastry up to into the centre
10. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. Turn out and with a clean cloth wipe off any excess oil.
** While Greg uses his own pastry recipe, he has kept it simple for the UAE’s budding master chefs
