Greek Feast! Individual Spanakopita, Aioli, Honey Sesame Baked Feta

Greek food is awesome. I have always found the Greeks to be like a Mediterranean version of the Irish. The Greeks and Irish are both family orientated, with a matriarchal society, and use food as love. But the Greeks are more tanned than us. And their cuisine is superior.

There is a seriously amazing Greek restaurant nearby which is a family affair - dad and mum cook, sons hold the floor. It's my favourite restaurant and if I'm not there, chances are I want to be there. 

And then last weekend, my Greek friend made some amazing Greek food for dinner which I completely PIGGED OUT at. Everything was delicious (how had I never had moussaka before?!) but I was completely enamoured with the individual spinach pies (spanakopita). I had to make them. I bothered him for a week for the recipe. And as soon as I had it in my grubby hands, I made them. Winner.

Then, as I was feeling pretty Greek, I baked the leftover feta (warmed sweet and nutty cheese? Hello!) and whipped up some aioli.

The aioli was pretty easy to make, and much better than my last, disastrous, effort at making mayonnaise. 

Serves 2

Ingredients for the Spanakopita

A few tbsp. olive oil

1 red onion, diced small

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 scallions, chopped roughly

300g spinach, washed

3 tsp dried oregano

125g feta cheese, chopped into small cubes

1 egg

Filo sheets

Sesame seeds

Ingredients for the Honey Sesame Baked Feta

75g feta

1 egg, whisked

1 tbsp flour

Salt and pepper

½ tsp garlic powder

A few tbsp. sesame seeds

A drizzle of olive oil

1 tbsp honey

Ingredients for the Aioli

1 egg

4 garlic cloves

2 tsp lemon juice

100ml vegetable oil

Salt and pepper

50ml olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Begin with the spinach pies. Heat some olive oil and fry the onion for a few minutes. Add in garlic and scallions and fry for a few more minutes.

Add in the spinach leaves in batches and cook until wilted down. 

Continue until all the spinach is cooked and wilted.

Season and add in the oregano.

Remove from the heat and gently sieve.

Spread onto a chopping board and allow it to cool a little before chopping roughly.

When cooled, add into a bowl, along with feta and an egg. Mix well and set aside.

Now prepare the feta sheets. Cut the pastry sheets into thirds, lengthwise.

Brush the surface you’re rolling the pies on in olive oil. 

Roll into tasty little triangles as shown. I also youtube’d how to roll samosas since it’s the same shape.

Start like this, and make three folds in total

Form it into a cone, like so, and place 1tbsp spinach mix inside

Continue to fold and keep the triangular form until you reach the end

Make sure all the edges are closed and seal the edge with olive oil.

Place on a baking tray. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 25 minutes until golden and crispy.

While these are cooking, get on with the feta.

Take the block of feta, and coat in the egg. Mix together the flour, garlic powder and salt and pepper on a plate and roll the feta in it.

Then coat again in the egg.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Place in a tinfoil-lined baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Pop in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove, pour over the honey and cover in tinfoil. Return to the oven for another 5 minutes.

Okay, as both those things are now cooking,  you can quickly whip up some aioli. And I mean quickly.

Place the egg, garlic and lemon juice in a tall bowl (you want the round bottom part to be roughly the same size as your immersion blender. Pour over the oil and let settle for 30 seconds.

Place the immersion blender on the bottom of the bowl and let it blend. The sucking force will pull down the oil and mix everything nicely in about 2 minutes. Gently tilt the blender if you need to get it all. Add a little salt and pepper, and drizzle over the olive oil.

Cute little jar optional

Once your spinach pies and feta are cooked, plate up, dip in aioli and enjoy!

 

All served up and ready to go!