Happy weekend everyone! I am beyond happy to be able to create a new recipe for your this week. It’s been a tough week and I wasn’t sure I will be in a state to do anything for a very long time. My neck went into a spasm on Friday morning (I must have slept funny), but I was okay, in a bit of pain but manageable. Then on Monday, I woke up in excruciating pain and my neck muscles started spasming with such ferocity that nothing brought any relief and even the simplest and tiniest movement brought me to tears. It was awful and it would not let up at all.
Because of the new, highly contagious COVID variant, I wasn’t keen on going to Accident and Emergency (ER), plus I found sitting up in a chair unbearable so waiting for my turn for hours was not something I could face. I decided to try and sleep it off and although sleeping with a wry neck is a massive challenge, the spasm slowly started to ease off by Wednesday. I even managed to do some gentle yoga yesterday morning and although my range of movement is still a little restricted it’s getting better every day. I am beyond grateful as the pain was so intense. So because of all this, I’ve had to skip my usual Wednesday recipe. I hasten to rectify this with a new Xmas-themed centrepiece. The shape of this spiral file (or phyllo) pie is inspired by my experience of living in Greece. I took my spiral spanakopita and gave it a bit of a winter upgrade. I stuffed the coils with a mixture of sweet roasted butternut squash, tangy and lemony cashew ‘cheese’ and tangy-sweet balsamic onions. Although the instructions look long (I’m a chronic overexplainer, you see!), the filling is actually quite simple to make and a lot of it happens on a single baking tray, in the oven. And don’t let the intricate looking coiling put you off either, as long as there is a wide segment of the counter space you can take over for a bit you will be fine, promise. I hope you are up for this challenge and if you like the general idea, but are not up for making a spiral, try this pastry method instead. Anyway, I hope you’ll give this Greek-inspired festive filo (phyllo) pie a go and that you’ll enjoy it if you do.
*FILO PASTRY: This recipe uses a total of 12 pastry sheets (6 double sheets) so you you’ll need two 250 g / 8¾ oz packets (you’ll have a couple of leftover sheets unless you want to triple the sheets which is also an option). A lot of commercially available filo is accidentally vegan (unless it’s an all butter version) but be sure to check the ingredients before you buy. Allow thawed pastry to sit at room temperature for 2 hrs before assembling the pie, as per the instructions on the packet. *FREEZING: I have not tried freezing this pie yet, but in Greece pies like this are often sold frozen so I don’t expect it to cause any issues.
