Spanakopita

Ingredients

• 375 g filo pastry
• 2 bunches English spinach, finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped
• 1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
• ½ bunch mint, finely chopped
• Cracked pepper
• 400 feta, crumbled into chunks
• 2 tbsp rice, uncooked
• ¾ cup olive oil

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C. Line a 30cm baking tray with baking paper.
2. Place chopped spinach in a mixing bowl and season with salt. Give it a mix and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.
3. Using your hands, take a handful of spinach at a time and squeeze any excess liquid out of the spinach. Place drained spinach into another large bowl.
4. Add spring onions, parsley, mint, pepper, feta, and rice to the large bowl. Mix all ingredients until well combined.
5. Place one sheet of pastry onto a clean kitchen surface. Arrange the pastry to have the long side facing you. Brush the pastry sheet with olive oil. Place another sheet on top of the pastry and brush with olive oild also.
6. Take 4 tablespoons of the filling and spread the filling along the length of the pastry. Make sure the filling is spread approx one inch from the bottom of the pastry, and 1cm from each of the pastry sides.
7. Roll the filling and pastry tightly to form a log. Taking this log shape, begin to coil the pastry. Transfer it to the centre of the baking tray.
8. Continue to prepare pastry, add filling, and roll into logs. Wrap the logs around the first centre log coil on the baking tray, until a large spiral shape forms. Brush the spiral with olive oil.
9. Bake for 45 minutes or until the pastry is golden.