Spanakopita

When I was young, my mother taught me how to make this. It's probably my favourite meal :)

You will need:

• Filo pastry
• 3 bags of baby spinach (baby spinach is better because it's less bitter than large-leaf spinach. But if you're iron deficient, go for the big leaf! Yay for health tips :] )
• Philadelphia cream cheese
• 2 blocks of feta cheese
• 4 or 5 large onions
• 1 tub of ricotta
• Sunflower oil
• 1&1/2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

1. Wash the spinach well and if it is large-leaf, remove the stems
2. Cook the spinach in a saucepan until it is wilted, then put it aside to cool
3. Very finely chop the onions and fry them until golden in olive oil and sugar. Once cooked, put them aside to cool
4. In a large bowl, mix together the crumbled feta, ricotta, cream cheese. and salt and pepper. Once the spinach and onions have cooled, add them to the mix
5. Here is the tricky part... filo pastry can be hard to work with in the beginning, you have to be extremely delicate with it on a dry surface and you have to work quickly or it will dry and crack in minutes. Unravel the filo from the role it is usually sold in without separating the sheets. Cut the pastry in three even straight lines. Put aside the other two pieces while you are working with one (make sure you wrap them in foil or plastic so they don't dry out).
6. When making the pastries, take a full spoon of the mixture and put it on the end of the pastry closest to you. Using 2 sheets at a time, roll up the mix in triangles
7. Put sunflower oil in a pan on a high heat for frying. Place the pastry triangles in and fry them evenly on each side so they are fully golden brown.
8. Make sure you lay them on paper towel to soak up some of the oil

This recipe may be tricky, but once you master it, it is sooo good. It's yummy warm and cold and you could have it as an appetiser or main meal. Good luck!

On a different note: while I was making it, I listened to a song I hadn't heard in ages. It was introduced to me by an old friend when I was still living in Bangladesh... brings back lots of old memories :)