Upside Down Cooking by Dominic Franks (DK RED, £22)
Photography by Ellis Parrinder
Try This Upside Down Spanakopita
This delicious twist on an authentic Greek recipe comes from Dom Franks' new book, Upside Down Cooking
'Aged 17, I went to Greece with my best friend, Andreas. Our itinerary was to go island hopping and basically drink ourselves into oblivion while soaking up the local culture. But first we had to make a pit-stop and call in on Andreas's grandparents in Athens. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to it, but it turned out to be the best part of the trip. It opened my eyes to authentic Greek cuisine and especially the little crunchy spinach- and cheese-filled filo triangles, known as spanakopita, you could pick up from the street food vendors. This is my version…'
Serves
6
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- handful each of dill and mint, chopped
- 300g feta, crumbled
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 100g Greek hard cheese, such as kefalotyri (or Parmesan), grated
- 300g baby spinach leaves
- 150g butter
- 11⁄2 x 270g packets of filo pastry (12 sheets, roughly 41 x 25cm, trimmed if needed)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- large baking tray, roughly 38 x 27cm, lined with baking parchment
Method
Preheat the oven to 220C (200C fan/Gas 7).
Mark out a large rectangle on the baking parchment the same size as the pastry and place it drawn-side down on the baking tray. Drizzle over a little olive oil, then sprinkle with one-third of the dill and mint. Season with salt and pepper.
Leaving a one-centimetre border, scatter a third of the crumbled feta over the rectangle, followed by the shallots.
In a bowl, beat the eggs with the remaining feta, the hard cheese and the rest of the herbs, then mix well.
Lay one-third of the spinach on top of the shallots, creating a sturdy pile in the middle of the lined baking tray with a generous four-centimetre border around the edge. Spoon over half of the egg mixture, then lay another third of the spinach
on top, followed by the remaining egg mix. Finish with the rest of the spinach and gently press the whole lot down.
Melt the butter in a small pan and mix in the two tablespoons of olive oil. Unroll the sheets of filo, keeping them in a pile. Brush the top sheet of filo with butter and lay it, butter-side up, over the spinach mixture. Continue until you’ve used all the filo sheets. Scrunch the edges of the pie all the way round and brush the top with more butter.
Bake for 35–40 minutes, or until darkly golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and allow the pie to sit on the tray for five minutes, then lay a piece of baking parchment on top, followed by a chopping board and carefully flip it over. Peel off the backing paper and cut the pie into triangles to serve.
