Filo Parcels

These are so light and equally good hot or cold - making them a perfect take to work snack or lunch if you throw in some salad and vegetables of choice. I can happily eat them straight out of the oven with nothing else but a big smile. There is something about crispy filo pastry which is just so hard to beat. It is another low effort one, but you just need to be sure you don't man handle the pastry and it is very delicate.

1 packet of filo pastry

50g butter

Plain flour for dusting

200g spinach

250g ricotta cheese

50g pine nuts

2 tbsp finely chopped basil

1 tbsp finely chopped mint

small handful of finely grated parmesan

sea salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C and add the pine nuts whilst it's heating up to toast lightly. Meanwhile steam the spinach for two minutes of so or until wilted. Remove from steamer and squeeze out water. In a large enough mixing bowl, add the spinach, ricotta, chopped herbs, parmesan, toasted pine nuts. Mix throughly to break up the spinach and evenly distribute everything. Taste before you season as the parmesan will provide a natural saltiness.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and turn off the heat. Lay your filo pastry sheets out on a floured surface and one by one (taking each sheet at a time) cut the sheet in half to provide the longest length possible. Brush the sheet with some melted butter and lay the other half on top of it. Take a large spoonful of the filling and put it in the top of the left hand side. Brush the rest of the pastry with some melted butter and fold over in right angles forming a triangle as you go along. Brush with a small amount of butter, a sprinkling of sea salt and place on a baking tray.

Repeat enough times as the filling will allow. Depending on how much you fill each parcel you should have 10 or so. Bake for 25 minutes and eat when you feel like it. Straight away is pretty rewarding though.