Spiced Potato, Spinach and Butternut Squash Filo Pie
I created this delicious veg-packed spiced potato filo pie for Scotty Brand. It is not only vegan, it also works out at just £1.30 per portion. It would make a great centrepiece to any dinner party, but is also an easy recipe to follow for a midweek dinner. It has everything I love in a recipe - ease, flavour, texture and lots of healthy goodies.
Chop a large butternut squash into 2cm chunks and place on a lined baking tray. Drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil, sprinkle with 1 tbsp medium or mild curry powder and season. Roast for 40-45 minutes at 200°C/180° fan until golden and caramelised.
Meanwhile, boil 750g of quartered baby potatoes for 10 minutes in plenty of salted water. Drain well and leave to steam while you create the filling.
Fry a finely chopped red onion with 1 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Once softened, add 1 tbsp finely grated ginger and three crushed cloves of garlic. Stir for a couple of minutes.
Add 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp nigella seeds and 1 tbsp curry paste and continue to stir well until smelling fragrant.
Add the cooked potatoes and roasted butternut squash stirring well until they are well coated in all the spices. Turn the heat down to low while you wilt 400g spinach for a few minutes in the microwave.
Once the spinach has wilted, rinse with cold water, place in a sieve, and squeeze out as much water as possible before finely chopping.
Add the spinach to the potato and squash mixture along with 30g of roughly chopped coriander and stir until well-combined. Don’t worry if some of the potatoes break up – that is what you want!
Now you are ready to assemble your pie. Brush the insides of a 20cm cake tin with olive oil (any size cake tin will do).
Lightly brush 350g of filo sheets with olive oil and layer them one by one into the cake tin, overlapping one another and making sure there is enough overhanging pastry to encase the pie once it is filled. Keep going until the tin is well-covered with the filo sheets and there are no gaps. You will need about half a 720g packet of filo pastry.
Next spoon the filling into the pie case, pressing the mixture down with the back of a spoon as you go. Once full, fold the overhanging pieces of pastry over the top of the pie so it is well encased.
Brush the top of the pie with more olive oil and sprinkle over some nigella seeds and sea salt flakes.
Bake for 35 minutes at 190°C/170° fan.
Check the pie after 15 minutes and cover with foil if the top is getting too brown.
After 35 minutes, carefully remove the pie from the cake tin and place on a baking sheet back in the oven for 20 more minutes, turning the pie occasionally so the sides get golden
Allow to stand for 10 minutes before slicing, serve and enjoy!
Serving suggestion: serve with some mango chutney and mint raita on the side.