Spanakopita

Greek cuisine is one of my favourites, and hence my husband is always joking about how much olive oil we go through in our household! Now as I study Ayurvedic nutrition, I’m always looking for ways to make my favourite Greek dishes more Ayurvedic. Well, it turns out that Spanakopita, cheese and spinach pie and an absolute Greek classic, is already very well-balanced. so it really doesn’t need much modification. One day I will get around to making my own pastry. For now, I use the Careme spelt butter puff pastry, which is delicious and high-quality and can be found at health food stores and some delis. For greens, you can use whatever you have going at the time. This time around, I used rainbow chard, chicory and amaranth, and I also added in some Gotu Kola I had growing in the garden for extra goodness.

Ingredients

1 kg spinach, finely sliced.
1 leek, finely sliced
1/2 cup dill, roughly chopped
1/2 cup parsley, roughly chopped
500 g paneer, goats or sheep fetta or fresh goat cheese
4 tablespoons ghee
1 lemon, juiced
Good pinch of Himalayan salt and lots of cracked pepper
2 sheets high-quality butter puff pastry

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2. Add the chopped greens, herbs and leek to a large mixing bowl.

3. Add the ghee, lemon juice, cheese, salt and pepper and mix together thoroughly with your hands, crumbling the cheese as you go.

4. Slightly defrost the pastry and place one layer on the bottom of a large baking dish.

5. Add the filling to the dish.

6. Place the second layer of pastry over the top and sprinkle with a little bit of ghee.

7. Bake in the oven for approximately 1 hour, slice and serve warm.