Ad

  • vegetable oil
    for the tin
  • 4 medium eggs
  • 500g curd cheese
    crumbled (this can be found in specialist shops), or use 250g ricotta mixed with 250g mascarpone
  • 250g feta
    crumbled
  • 2 tbsp soured cream
    or crème fraîche
  • 500g frozen spinach
    defrosted and excess moisture wrung out in a clean tea towel
  • 100ml olive oil
  • 300ml natural yogurt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 500g filo pastry
  • 20g unsalted butter

Nutrition: Per serving

  • kcal445
  • fat30g
  • saturates14g
  • carbs27g
  • sugars5g
  • fibre3g
  • protein15g
  • salt1.2g
Ad

Method

  • step 1

    Lightly oil a roasting tin (ours was about 25 x 35cm and 4cm deep) and line with baking parchment. Mix the eggs, cheeses, soured cream or crème fraîche, spinach and some seasoning together in a bowl.

  • step 2

    In another bowl, mix together the oil, yogurt and baking powder. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.

  • step 3

    Cut the filo sheets in half so they are roughly the size of the tin. Put one filo sheet in the tin and evenly brush over 1-2 tbsp of the yogurt mixture using pastry brush. Top with another filo sheet, brush over more yogurt mixture and repeat until you’ve used half the filo.

  • step 4

    Pour over the cheese filling, then gently spread it to the edges using a spatula. Continue layering the rest of the filo sheets and yogurt mix. Spread any remaining yogurt mix over the top of the final filo sheet.

  • step 5

    Cut the pie into squares (either nine or 12, depending on how big you want the pieces to be). Will keep frozen for up to a month. Defrost completely in the fridge overnight before cooking. Top each square with a small knob of butter, then bake for 20 mins. Reduce the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and bake for another 25-30 mins until browned on top. Leave to cool slightly before serving warm. Will keep covered and chilled for up to two days.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, May 2022

Ad

Comments, questions and tips (2)

Rate this recipe

What is your star rating out of 5?

Choose the type of message you'd like to post

Choose the type of message you'd like to post

Overall rating

A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.2 ratings

avalinahsbooks

question

I did everything to a tee, and used the cottage cheese (not ricotta and mascarpone), but the filo came out all soggy, all layers were lost apart from the few at the top. The bottom is simply a big soggy blob despite taking an hour to layer together. What went wrong?

goodfoodteam avatar
goodfoodteam

Hi, thanks for your question. Can we check that you used a firm curd cheese which is different to cottage cheese? Cottage cheese has a high water content and could cause soggy pastry. We hope this helps. Best wishes, BBC Good Food Team.

Katerina Ridge

This is an excellent recipe! I have been making spinach pie for ages but this recipe surpasses all. It is the yoghurt mix between the filo that makes it so special. I added a lot of dill in the spinach mix, however.

Ad
Ad
Ad