Description
This simple Spinach and Feta Tart recipe is inspired by Greek Spanakopita, heavy with spring onions and nutmeg it’s the perfect spring tart to enjoy in the sunshine warm or at room temperature.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Shortcrust Pastry
- 200g plain flour
- 60g unsalted butter, fridge cold
- 40g lard, fridge cold
- pinch of salt
- pinch of nutmeg
For the Spinach and Feta Filling
- 1 tbsp light oil
- 1 leek
- sea salt
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 400g baby spinach leaves
- 4 large spring onions
- handful fresh mint leaves
- pinch of nutmeg
- 150g crumbled feta
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Instructions
- First, make the pastry case. Blitz the flour, butter and lard – cut into a dice – and the salt and nutmeg in a food processor until you have sandy crumbs. Then gradually add up to 2 tbsp of ice water until the dough just comes together.
- Turn the pastry out onto a floured surface and bring it all together into a smooth ball, trying to knead it as little as possible for the lightest pastry. Roll into a circle just larger than a 20cm loose bottomed tart tin, greased well with butter. Line the tin with pastry, trim the edges, and tidy things up with your fingers. Transfer the pastry case to the fridge to chill whilst you get on with the filling.
- Heat the oil in the largest frying pan or shallow casserole you have over a medium high heat. Trim and slice the leek into half moons. Once the oil is shimmering, fry the leek with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes or so until soft and just starting to colour. It will feel like the pan is too big to be cooking just one leek, but you need the extra space once you add the spinach!
- Crush or finely grate the garlic before adding it to the pan, cooking for a further minute until fragrant.
- Add a couple of generous handfuls of the spinach leaves to the pan and stir so they’re somewhat coated with the leek mixture. Stir again after a couple of minutes as the spinach wilts down, adding more spinach to the pan once there is space. The whole process should take about 10 minutes. Then, continue to cook the spinach for a further 5 minutes until most of the moisture has cooked away: you want a moist tart filling, but not a wet one!
- Remove the pan from the heat. Allow the mixture to cool a little whilst you trim and finely slice the spring onions, and finely chop the mint, and allow the oven to preheat to 170C with a metal baking sheet heating up inside to help prevent a soggy bottom on the pastry.
- Stir the spring onions and chopped mint into the pan along with a pinch of nutmeg and the crumbled feta. Then stir in the egg mixture.
- Remove the tart case from the fridge and add the filling, making sure it is pushed into all the corners and to top is smooth. Bake on top of the heated baking sheet for 40 minutes until the pastry is slightly golden and the filling is set and slightly puffed. Check the tart halfway to see if you need to turn the tart around to make sure the pastry cooks evenly: in my current oven I don’t need to, but in my old one I did.
- Allow to cool for 20 minutes before removing from the tin and slicing if you plan to serve it warm.
Notes
The pastry case can be made a day ahead, as can the filling but chill them separately to avoid soggy pastry.
Keywords: spanakopita, spinach, feta, tart
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