This is a great meal for a dinner party. Delicious and easy to make. It feeds about 4-5. I tried a nice variation tonight with eggs, onion and garlic, so I’m updating this recipe slightly with this tastier version. If you want the simpler version of the filling simply mix the drained spinach, nutmeg, pepper and fetta together – there’s no need to cook it.

INGREDIENTS

  • pre-rolled, puff pastry
  • olive oil

simple filling

  • baby spinach leaves, rinsed (or a tin of spinach will do if you don’t have it fresh)
  • 1 block fetta, chopped or crumbled into about 1cm pieces
  • nutmeg
  • pepper

cooked filling (optional)

  • cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 2 eggs
  • onion
  • garlic

rice

  • brown rice
  • chicken stock

METHOD

Grease an oven tray and preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Boil the kettle. Put the brown rice on to boil in the chicken stock. If you are using fresh baby spinach leaves rinse in a strainer and then pour boiling water over the top so it wilts. It’s important to strain the spinach well so the parcels don’t go soggy in the oven. In the strainer push down on the spinach until all the excess water is removed. Fry the onion and garlic until it softens. Add the spinach and season to taste with nutmeg and pepper. Any excess water in the spinach should evaporate during this process. Place the spinach mix into a bowl and add the fetta pieces. Stir in the eggs. Mix until well combined, but not mushy.

Unroll the puff pastry and cut each sheet into 6 square pieces. You can stretch out the sides of each square a little to make it easier to fill them. Pile 3-5 tablespoons of mixture into the middle of each pastry square, then fold the edges of the pastry up (4 triangles) to meet in the top. Pinch the edges to keep them together. Do this for each piece. Place on the tray and bake for 30-45 minutes. Once done remove from the tray onto a baking rack to help them cool without going soggy – or turn them upside down on a plate if you don’t have a baking rack at hand.

Drain the chicken flavoured rice when done. Serve the rice with 2 parcels on top. Try combining this recipe with chicken and mushroom parcels.