Filo Pastries with Potato, Spinach and Feta Filling [vegetarian]

Autumn has finally arrived again. The days are shorter, the nights are colder and leaves on trees slowly start turning golden and brown. Luckily the weather is still pretty good so how about taking an advantage of it and enjoying maybe the last picnic of the year?

My suggestion for an autumn picnic dish is a loose variation on Greek Spanakopita recipe: I have made individual pastries (as they are easier to eat when you don’t necessarily have plates with you) and their filling includes potatoes (thanks to them the filling stays together). But what if the weather doesn’t permit to enjoy these pastries on an outing? Then they are still a great idea for a buffet or a healthy snack that can be taken to school or work.

INGREDIENTS (for approx. 20 pastries):

500g potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes,

2 tbsp olive oil,

2 garlic cloves, thinly chopped,

300g washed spinach (if you are using frozen spinach then thaw it at first and squeeze out the excess of water),

3 tbsp milk,

200g feta cheese, crumbled into very small pieces,

5 filo pastry sheets,

salt and pepper,

olive oil for greasing the sheets.

METHOD:

1. Boil the potatoes in salty water till soft.
2. In a big frying pan warm the olive oil; add the spinach and fry until water evaporates, add the garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes more.
3. Drain the potatoes, mash them with milk using the potato masher until smooth and add the feta cheese, mix well.
4. Cut the fried spinach and add it to the potato and feta mixture, stir well and season.
5. Preheat an oven to 220 Celsius degrees (200 fan oven).
6. Take one sheet of filo pastry, brush it with olive oil (if you want to use less olive oil, use your hands instead of a brush) and cut along the longer side. The sheets I used were 35cm x 45cm so from one sheet I had 4 strips approx. 8.5x45cm.
7. In a corner of one strip of filo pastry put 1 tbsp of the filling and flip it over so you have a triangle of the pastry on top. Press the filling to spread it and carry on turning the triangle till you have used the whole strip (see the photos below). Place it on a baking tray covered with baking paper and brush with a bit of olive oil.
8. Repeat with the rest of pastries. The pastries can be prepared a day in advance and kept in a fridge on a baking tray covered with cling film.
9. Put the baking try with the pastries to the hot oven, bake for 8-10 minutes.