Zeljanica (cheese & spinach pie)
SERVES 9 12 PREP 25 mins COOK 45 mins MORE EFFORT V ❄
vegetable oil, for the tin
4 medium eggs
500g fresh curd cheese, crumbled (this can be found in specialist shops), or use 250g ricotta mixed with 250g mascarpone 250g feta, crumbled
2 tbsp soured cream or
crème fraîche
500g frozen spinach, defrosted and excess moisture wrung out in a clean tea towel
100ml olive oil
300ml natural yogurt
1 tsp baking powder
500g ilo pastry
20g unsalted butter
1 Lightly oil a roasting tin (ours was about 25 x 35cm and 4cm deep) and line with baking parchment. Mix the eggs, cheeses, soured cream or crème fraîche, spinach and some seasoning together in a bowl.
2 In another bowl, mix together the oil, yogurt and baking powder. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
3 Cut the filo sheets in half so they are roughly the size of the tin. Put one filo sheet in the tin and evenly brush over 1-2 tbsp of the yogurt mixture using pastry brush. Top with another filo sheet, brush over more yogurt mixture and repeat until you’ve used half the filo.
4 Pour over the cheese filling, then gently spread it to the edges using a spatula. Continue layering the rest of the filo sheets and yogurt mix. Spread any remaining yogurt mix over the top of the final filo sheet.
Cut the pie into squares (either nine or 12, depending on how big you want the pieces to be). Will keep frozen for up to a month. Defrost completely in the fridge overnight before cooking. Top each square with a small knob of butter, then bake for 20 mins. Reduce the oven to 180C/ 160C fan/gas 4 and bake for another 25-30 mins until browned on top. Leave to cool slightly before serving warm. Will keep covered and chilled for up to two days.
GOOD TO KNOW calcium • 1 of 5-a-day
PER SERVING 445 kcals • fat 30g • saturates 14g •
carbs 27g • sugars 5g • ibre 3g • protein 15g • salt 1.2g
ABOUT STELA Stela worked with 91 Ways, a social enterprise in Bristol named for the number of languages spoken there which aims to bring the community together through food. Stela was asked by founder Kalpna Woolf to contribute to Eat Share Love (£22, Meze Publishing), a cookbook featuring global recipes and the stories behind them. You can also try quick roasted gobi, aloo & mutter from the book on page 118.