Feta and spinach filo triangles

These make the perfect starter or buffet food, they are so delicious and surprisingly easy to make. I used ready-rolled filo pastry from Sainsbury's and was really worried because I knew working with filo pastry could be quite tricky as it tends to dry out and crack, but I had no problems with this one at all! The textures were really good and spinach and feta go so well together. These will definitely impress at a dinner party so give it a go. I served this with a salad of mixed lettuce leaves, cucumber, tomato, feta and lemon. 

Makes about 10

- olive oil

- 1/2 red onion, finely chopped

- 150g frozen spinach, thawed and drained

- 100g feta cheese, crumbled

- 50g cottage cheese

- 1/2 egg, beaten

- 10 sheets of ready-rolled filo pastry

- 100g slightly salted butter, melted

1. Heat some olive oil in a pan and gently fry the onions until softened. Add the spinach and cook until the water is evaporated.

2. Mix together the egg, cottage cheese and feta cheese in a jug and add to the onion and spinach. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until thickened.

3. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6 / 200 degrees.

4. Place a filo pastry sheet on a clean work surface and brush with melted butter all over.

5. Cut the pastry sheet into 3 equal strips 

 6. Place the sheets on top of one another. Next, place a spoonful of the filling at the end.

 7. Fold into a triangle like below

 8. Then continue to fold into a triangle, until the filling is completely encased.

 9. Butter the end of the leftover pastry and fold over. Brush both sides of the completed filo triangle with butter and place on a baking tray.

10. Repeat until all the mixture has gone then bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until hot in the middle and golden brown.

11. Serve with a greek salad!

Enjoy :)

Fried halloumi fingers

For my sister's birthday, my mum and I decided to do a Greek themed night. I did the starters (this halloumi, feta and spinach filo pastries and greek salad) and for main we had pork stifado (instead of beef), and lamb and feta kebabs with cous cous. Everything was so delicious, it all worked really well. I don't have the recipe for the stifado, but there are lots of good ones online - it's basically a casserole type dish made with beef, red wine, stock, cinnamon etc. so had lots of rich flavours. The halloumi was really good it has such a strong flavour, and a crisp texture from the sesame seeds which we coated them in.

Serves 5

- Block of halloumi

- olive oil

- sesame seeds

- dried oregano

1. Cut the halloumi into strips

2. Brush both sides of each piece with olive oil and coat in sesame seeds. I did some without sesame and with dried oregano instead.

3. Pour more oil into a large frying pan and fry the cheese on a high heat until golden and crispy. Serve with a sprinkling of dried oregano.

Enjoy :)

Sun-dried tomato, spinach and feta pasta salad

Mmmmm. This is actually a picture I took in 2010! I ate this at a picnic outside Windsor castle. It is a re-creation of my favourite MandS pasta salad because, let's face it, it is probably a lot cheaper to make from scratch... It has all my favourite Italian flavours in it; I particularly love the red pesto as I don't usually have this often. A perfect lunch for this amazing sunny, hot weather we're having in England, and can easily be prepared the night before.

Serves 2
- 180g pasta shapes (e.g. fusilli)
- generous amount of red pesto (the sun-dried tomato flavour)
- handful of spinach, torn
- feta, cut into cubes
- sun-dried tomatoes, sliced 
- salt & pepper
- fresh basil, torn (optional)

I haven't given specific quantities because I didn't really measure them - just add as much as you like. E.g. if you like a lot of sauce then add more pesto, or if you find sun-dried tomatoes too rich then only add a few etc.

1. Cook the pasta in salted water according to packet instructions. Drain, and leave to cool.
2. Stir in the pesto until the pasta is coated, then add all the other ingredients and mix together. Season to taste and refrigerate in a tupperware until needed!

Enjoy :)