Green Pockets

The ultimate fast food! If it’s the weekend we’ll make the simple yoghurt dough, but on a week night we’ll pick up a pack of Greek pitas or souvlaki bread on the way home from work. We love this interpretation of gozleme because everything goes into the pocket uncooked. It is truly a 15-minute meal. Makes 8

2 cups very thinly sliced green leaves English or baby spinach leaves, silverbeet leaves, kale leaves, rocket

⅓ cup finely chopped soft

herbs mint, dill, parsley

200g cheese ricotta, crumbled feta, grated haloumi, grated mozzarella

⅔ cup grated parmesan ½ teaspoon salt

100ml olive oil lemon wedges, to serve

Spiced onion (optional)

½ small onion, finely diced 2 garlic cloves, minced ½ teaspoon ground cumin pinch of freshly cracked

black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons dried herbs, such

as oregano, mint or basil

Simple yoghurt dough

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar 1 cup Greek-style yoghurt 2½ cups plain flour, plus extra

for dusting

1 teaspoon baking soda

Combine the greens and herbs in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the cheeses and salt. You can leave the mixture here and it will be yummy and family friendly, but if you want to take it up a notch, it’s worth the extra 5 minutes to make the spiced onion; simply combine the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

To make the yoghurt dough, combine the oil, vinegar and yoghurt in a bowl and mix well. Sift in the flour and baking soda and mix with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients come together to form a dough. Tip out onto a floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes or until very smooth. Divide the dough into eight balls and place under a damp tea towel. Working with one ball of dough at a time, roll the dough into 15cm circles.

To assemble, spread 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture over half of each dough circle (or pita bread) and scatter 2–3 teaspoons of the spiced onion mixture (if using) on top. Add ½ cup of the greens and herb mixture, then fold the dough over to make a semicircle. If using homemade dough, pinch the edges to seal. If using pita, wet your hands and dampen the outside of each pocket and seal as best as you can.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Working in batches, pan-fry the pockets for 2–3 minutes each side, until golden brown. You can also brush each pocket with olive oil and grill them on the barbecue. Serve with a squeeze of lemon and a salad if you can be bothered, but there’s so many greens inside you hardly need to.

Combinations we like

Kale, parsley, feta and chilli flakes; rocket, mint, haloumi and lemon zest or chopped preserved lemon rind; baby spinach, basil, mozzarella and parmesan.