Spinach, feta & lamb puffs

A little Greek-inspired yumminess goes a long way! This recipe came about when we had some leftover roast lamb, along with spinach, feta and pastry in the fridge – and to be honest, I was bored with the usual options and wanted to experiment a bit. Fresh mint from the garden (best grown in pots unless you want to it to take over completely) along with a dash of nutmeg really brings the flavours out. Now it’s a go-to for Zander whenever he’s home – and hopefully he can find an oven now and then at uni!

Serves: 3-4 as a main course

Time to prepare/cook: Approximately 30 minutes to prepare the ingredients if cooking lamb from scratch or 20 minutes if have already cooked lamb; 15-20 minutes to cook the dish

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Ingredients

• 300g lamb steaks (marinated in garlic & herbs if available) – or leftover pre-cooked lamb (great if you had roast lamb and some left)

• 250g fresh spinach

• 150g feta cheese

• Salt & black pepper

• 2 teaspoons crushed garlic (add another tablespoon if you like garlic) – approx. 1 clove of garlic per teaspoon

• ½ teaspoon nutmeg

• 5 teaspoons of grated parmesan

• Handful of fresh mint, chopped

• Fresh, pre-prepared puff pastry – rectangular preferably, leave this in the fridge until the last minute as pastry needs to be cold to use properly (it gets too stretchy when warm)

• Dash of olive oil for cooking spinach and coating puffs

• Pots & pans needed: Large mixing bowl, small mixing bowl (ceramic), frying pan and shallow baking tray for oven covered with a sheet of greaseproof paper

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C, and line the baking tray with the greaseproof paper

• Cook the lamb – either 20 mins in the oven at 200 degrees C in a baking dish with a dash of oil in the bottom or fry it at medium heat turning often in the frying pan for about 10 -15 minutes. Set aside to cool before chopping into small pieces and adding to large mixing bowl. With leftover lamb, just cut it into small pieces and put in the large mixing bowl

• Cook the spinach in the frying pan, with a dash of oil in the bottom, 2 teaspoons of garlic paste and 2 teaspoons of grated parmesan. Once the spinach is wilted and mixed well with the other ingredients, drain off all the excess liquid and chop it roughly in the small mixing bowl (make sure it is one that will not scratch when using the knife to chop it) – then add to large mixing bowl

• Chop the feta into small pieces, add to large mixing bowl, along with the chopped mint, extra teaspoon of garlic (if wanted) and the rest of the grated parmesan

• Mix up all the ingredients well

• Take pastry out of fridge, lay it out on a chopping board (lying on the paper it was wrapped in or it will stick) with longest edge horizontal and cut it into equal thirds (Note: you can use different shapes of course depending on the shape of the pastry and what you want the puffs to look like!)

• Put the filling in the centre of each piece of pastry so you have enough pastry free to fully enclose the filling, wrap the pastry over the filling (work quickly so the pastry does not get too warm)

• Transfer each puff carefully on to the greaseproof paper on the baking tray

• Use a few drops of olive oil to coat the tops of the puffs (helps give a golden colour)

• Put in the centre of the oven and bake for 15-20 mins until puffs are a golden brown

• Serve with green/tomato salad if wanted