Spinach and Feta Parcels / Fatayers

By: Pete on 10:38:00

These are another recipe from Paul Hollywoods "Pies and Puds" book, which I'm getting good mileage out of. These are slightly unusual, in that they are a parcel that is wrapped in a bread dough, rather than a pastry. They were pretty quick to make as well...while the bread dough is proving, you can make the filling, and they bake very quickly. the end result was really delicious, these vanished in no time!

only change I'd make it to do slightly more dough, as when it was rolled to 5mm, you couldn't get 4 circles out of it (I ended up rolling it thinner, about 3mm). The baked dough is delicious (a bit like a crispy steamed bun), so you'll not be dissapointed to get more! I particularly liked how the recipe used frozen spinach, which was way easier to use than fresh (500g of fresh spinach is a massive volume...)

Spinach and Feta Parcels Recipe

Dough Ingredients

• 250g strong white flour
• 125ml water
• 30ml olive oil
• 5g instant yeast
• 5g salt

1) Place all the ingredients in a stand mixer with the dough hook attached, and knead until a smooth dough is formed (about 6-8 minutes)

2) Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and leave in a warm place to prove for an hour (it should have doubled in size)

3) While the dough is proving, make the filling

Filling Ingredients

• 15ml olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 500g frozen spinach (whole leaf)
• 125g feta cheese
• 30g pine nuts
• 10g chopped mint
• salt and pepper (to taste)

1) Put the olive oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat

2) Place the garlic in the pan and fry until the garlic is going brown

3) Remove the garlic and put it in a large bowl

4) Turn the heat up high, and add the (still frozen) spinach

5) Heat and stir the pinach until it's all melted, and all the water has evaporated (I also squeezed it out with the back of a spoon...the more moisture you can get out of the spinach the better)

6) Add the spinach to the bowl with the garlic in

7) Allow the spinach to cool completely (you can aid this by spreading it out, and standing the bowl in cold water)

8) Crumble in the feta, and add the pine nuts and chopped mint

9) Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Assembly

1) Pre-heat oven to 220'C

2) Take the dough, and roll out on a slightly floured surface to 3-5mm (it needs to be big enough to cut out 4 x 18cm circles

3) Cut out 4 x 18cm circles (I used a cereal bowl as a template, which was just the right size)

4) Spoon one quarter of the spinach and cheese mixture into the middle of each circle, and form it into a rough triangle

5) using a pastry brush, dampen the outer edge of each circle

6) Bring the edges of each circle up to form a pyramid, and gently crimp the edges together with your finger

7) Place the parcels on a baking tray

8) Bake for 14-15 minutes, until golden brown