Feta, spinach and parsley börek

Feta cheese is one of my favourite kinds of cheese; salty, tangy and crumbly - and perfect for baking. These Turkish parcels made from flaky filo and packed with zesty herbs make a brilliant snack or starter. I serve mine with a yoghurt and parsley dip.

Recipe here or below:

Martha Collison's feta, parsley & spinach börek

Ingredients:

FOR THE BÖREK
270g pack Jus-Rol 6 Filo Sheets
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp ground cumin or Cooks’ Ingredients Herby Zaatar
250g feta cheese
150g spinach, roughly chopped
½ x 25g pack parsley, finely chopped
½ x 25g pack mint, leaves only, finely chopped
Finely grated zest and juice ½ lemon
1 large Waitrose British Blacktail Egg, beaten
75g butter

FOR THE LEMON PARSLEY DIP
100g Greek yogurt
Finely grated zest and juice ½ lemon
½ x 25g pack parsley, finely chopped
 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6 and line 2 baking trays with baking parchment. Remove the pastry from the fridge.

2. Warm the olive oil in a small frying pan over a medium heat and add the garlic. Fry for 1 minute or until softened and starting to go brown, then stir in the cumin or zaatar and remove from the heat.

3. Crumble the feta into a large bowl and add the fried garlic mix, spinach, chopped herbs and lemon zest. Stir to combine, then add the juice and the egg and mix again until everything is combined. Season.

4. Melt the butter in the frying pan you used to fry the garlic (don’t worry if you get specks in the melted butter, they make it more flavoursome).

5. Unroll the filo pastry so that all the sheets are directly on top of one another in a block. Slice the pastry lengthways into 3 rectangles, cutting through the layers to form 18 long strips in total.

6. To assemble the börek, lay out a strip of pastry and brush with butter. Place a heaped teaspoon of mixture into the bottom corner of the filo. Fold the pastry and filling over to create a small triangle concealing the filling. Continue to flip the triangle across the pastry strip like you are making a samosa, until the filling is covered and the pastry is used up. Repeat with the remaining filling and pastry.

7. Arrange on the baking trays and brush with any remaining melted butter before baking for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Meanwhile make the dip. Beat together all the ingredients in a bowl and season. Serve the börek hot or cold with the lemon parsley yogurt dip on the side.