Tuesday 24 March 2015

Easy healthy spinach pasties

These are not entirely of my own invention, don't worry, but they are very yummy, very easy and pretty quick. You don't have to leave them to prove or anything fancy like that (is that something you do in baking?),  so even I made them successfully. They are even nice cold (packed lunch opportunity, hint hint...)



For the pastry:
350 plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
85g butter
3tbs olive or vegetable oil
1 egg yolk (keep the white!)
5tbs water

For the filling:
1 onion
1/2 tbs olive oil
1 pack of spinach
100g cheese
20g parmesan
2 large eggs
Pepper, salt and what ever the hell else you want. It's a free county.

Makey makey:
  1. Put the onions in a pan with the olive oil from the filling list. Leave it till its soft, and slightly browned, or see through if you're using the onions that aren't red. This will probably take about 10 minutes, so meanwhile get some pastry going. PS. do not burn these onions. They basically have a death wish, and want to take all the rest with them - they go all carbony if you stop watching for even a second. Do not take your eyes off them, and watch those buttercups with a all of your death stare glare.
  2. Pour the flour into a blender, along with the butter and baking powder. Switch it on till it looks like veeery fine bread crumbs, and then add the oil, egg yolk and water. Switch it on again until it goes doughy. Flour a work surface (this is very important, unless you enjoy using power tools to remove pastry mix from your work tops. I didn't have to do this of course - they're not my worktops, and therefore not my division*) and tip the dough out, making a ball. Leave it alone now, just step away, and get back to those onions.
  3. Seriously, what the hell were you thinking, leaving those onions like that! They're probably burnt, the poor suicidal dears, and its no bodies fault but your own. Yes, you should feel ashamed. Anyway, filling. Put the spinach in the pan with the onions. The spinaches will look like it could feed all of Africa, but it will shrink, I swear.
  4. Let the leaves 'wilt' - ie. go all floppy and squishy. Put the spinach and onions in a bowl and mix in the cheeses and eggs. You can also put in nutmeg and pinenuts, if you fancy.
  5. Take your pastry and divide it into about 6 little balls. Roll out the balls, putting a large spoonful of filling in each one, and then sealing the top shut. Take your egg white (see - I hope you read the instructions. Don't throw it away, I said.) and brush the pasties with it, to make them go all golden and shiny in the oven.
  6. Put them in the oven at 200c, and cook them for about 20 minutes, or however long they take. Use your common sense. 

These end up delicious, and you could even put mushrooms in. Like I said, it's a free county.

*brownie points if you recognised the Sherlock quote. If you did, you are the best bit of humanity.

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