Light Meals, Main

Spanakopita

I often make this delicious Greek classic with swiss chard, or a mix of chard and spinach, and sometimes I use spinach and leeks. It tastes delicious in all combinations. The recipe below is for a classic spinach version. As long as you have approx. 900-1kg you should be good. A fattoush style salad also works well as a side to this. Perfect for a light dinner or lunch. It's also great taken on picnic, as its just as delicious at room temperature. The leftovers, if you're lucky enough to get any, are also pretty yummy.

SERVES:
06-08

Ingredients

Spanakopita

  • 1kg frozen spinach (defrosted) or fresh spinach
  • 1 large onion diced
  • 5 garlic cloves grated or finely chopped
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • salt and pepper
  • 1-2 tsp black sesame seeds
  • ½ tsp grated nutmeg
  • 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
  • 2tbs olive or groundnut oil for brushing 270g pack filo sheets

Almond Feta

  • 200g blanched almonds
  • 160ml lemon juice
  • 20g nutritional yeast
  • 2tsp sea salt
  • 5tbs olive oil
  • 100-120ml cold water

Instructions

  1. Pre heat the oven to 180°C
  2. Make you Almond Feta by adding all the ingredients to a high-powered blender, blend until very smooth, adding more water if necessary.
  3. If you are using frozen spinach place in a sieve and push out as much of the excess water as possible. If you are using fresh, then place in a large bowl with a good pinch of salt and cover with cling film, microwave for 1 minute or until it has just wilted and still bright green. Transfer to a sieve or colander and squeeze out as much of the excess water as possible.
  4. Gentle sautee the onions and garlic in a little groundnut or olive oil until soft and translucent.
  5. Remove from the heat and add to a bowl with the spinach, lemon zest, nutmeg, almond feta, pine nuts and a good amount of seasoning. Mix until well combined.
  6. On a clean work surface, lay out 4 sheets of filo, overlapping by about an inch so there are no spaces. Lightly oil with a brush, make sure you brush oil under the overlapping sides to glue them together. Lay another 4 on top in the same way and repeat until all the pastry has been used.
  7. Spoon the spinach mix along the length of the pastry and a couple of inches from the side, as evenly as possible. Starting at one end roll the pastry up and over the filling and work your way down. Continue to roll up the pastry into a long sausage. Try not to roll too tight as this can encourage splitting. Don't worry about this too much though.
  8. Starting at one end, curl the sausage inwards to create a spiral shape.
  9. Slide onto a baking sheet lined with parchment, lightly brush with the remaining oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
  10. Bake for 35-40mins until golden and crispy.
  11. Serve with a mixed salad, or Greek salad.

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