Spinach. Cheese. Buttery pastry. Do I really need to say more?

These Greek pastries are savoury, creamy and flaky; making them the perfect appetiser for your guests are your next dinner party. What’s great is that you can definitely make them in advance, cover and freeze, and bake whenever your guests arrive.

Ingredients

800g spinach
1 onion, diced
4 garlic gloves, minced
15g (or a decent handful) dill
Large handful of parsley, chopped
180g feta cheese
Fillo/phyllo pastry sheets
Butter, melted

Method

1. Blanch spinach in boiling water until wilted and immediately dunk in iced water (this retains the green colour). Squeeze out excess water from spinach as much as possible.

2. In a pan over medium heat, combine a drizzle of olive oil, onion and garlic, and cook until soft and translucent.

3. In a big bowl, combine the drained spinach, cooked onion and garlic, crumbled feta cheese, dill and parsley. Mix until well combined. Salt and pepper to taste (be careful, the feta is salty)

4. Preheat oven at 180C or 350F.

5. Unravel fillo sheets. Take one sheet and spread a light, even layer of melted butter on top. Place another sheet of fillo on top of the first buttered sheet and brush over another light layer of melted butter. Cut up the buttered fillo sheets into 3-4 strips, depending on how big you want your spanakopita to be. (Keep the roll of fillo covered while you’re working on each sheet to prevent drying out)

6. Place some of the filling mixture on one end of the strip and fold the strip onto itself to form triangles.

7. Place triangles onto a lined baking sheet and coat the tops with another layer of melted butter. Bake at 180C/350F for 20-30mins or until golden brown.