14Dec '09
Greek Vegetable Pie
I made this up at the weekend and was so impressed by the reaction of my husband and two friends I thought I’d better get it online pronto! I should point out that the three people who helped me demolish the pie are very keen meat eaters so it was especially gratifying to see them appreciate something vegetarian.
The filling is made in two stages – one set of raw ingredients and one cooked.
Ingredients:
Raw filling
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 carrot, grated
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Salt and pepper
Cooked filling
- 1/2 leek, sliced
- 4-5 chestnut mushroom, sliced
- 500g spinach
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried mint
- Pine nuts
- Garlic salt or 1 clove of fresh, crushed garlic and salt
- Lots of black pepper
- Half a pack of feta cheese, cubed
- A small handful of grated cheddar
And…
- 4 Sheets of filo pastry
- Sesame seeds
- Olive oil
Method:
- Mix the raw ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- In a frying pan, cook the leek and mushrooms with a little garlic salt and plenty of fresh black pepper. After a few minutes remove them from the heat and put them in a bowl.
- In the same frying pan wilt the spinach. You may need to do this in several stages depending on the size of your frying pan. Keep the leaves moving with a wooden spoon so they don’t stick or burn and when they’re wilted transfer them to a food processor and blend with the lemon juice into a fine paste.
- Toast the pine nuts in the frying pan for a minute or so then mix them with the spinach, mushrooms and leeks. Add the cumin seeds, oregano, mint and feta.
- Put a layer of filo pastry in the centre of a shallow tart or flan tin so that you have an equal amount overhanging on each side. Brush with olive oil.
- Place your second sheet at a right angle to make a cross shape and brush the second layer with olive oil.
- Repeat the pattern with the other two pieces of pastry.
- Scatter over the raw and cooked fillings and top with the grated cheddar.
- Fold the overhanging pastry layers over the top of the pie to meet in the middle but don’t worry if there’s a tiny bit open. You can repair any holes with extra pastry or just leave them.
- Brush thoroughly with olive oil and put in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and scatter over the sesame seeds. Then cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Serve with ketchup and potato wedges or a dressed salad.
