Spinach roll

Ingredients

5 sheets frozen filo
1 kilo fresh spinach
5 spring onions
200gr soft feta cheese
50gr soft Domokos cheese or cream cheese
100gr pine nuts
1 tbs olive oil
150gr cream
3 rounded tbs grated kefalotiri cheese
1 egg

Preparation

1. Remove filo from freezer and let thaw.

2. Wash and clean spinach and spring onions. Chop together and without draining place in pot. Cook in their liquids for about five minutes until just tender.

3. Stir in feta and cream cheese.

4. Brush each sheet of filo with olive oil, then place in layers on a piece of cooking paper about the size of a baking tray.

5. Spread spinach and cheese filling over filo.

6. Toast pine nuts in a dry frying pan and sprinkle over spinach filling.

7. Roll filo and filling, tucking ends under the roll. Use cooking paper to lift roll and place on a baking tray.

8. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

9. Beat together egg, cream, and kefalotiri cheese. Pour mixture over spinach and filo roll. Bake in middle of oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 40 minutes.

Spinach with feta

Ingredients

750gr fresh spinach
1 tbs sesame seeds
2 tbs cold-pressed olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
3 tbs tamari sauce
2 tbs lemon juice
freshly-ground pepper
150gr soft feta cheese
4 radishes
6 button mushrooms

Preparation

1. Clean spinach, wash under running water, and let drain.

2. Toast sesame seeds in non-stick frying pan.

3. Clean radishes and mushrooms, then slice thinly.

4. In a little oil, saute garlic. Add tamari sauce, spinach, and mushrooms. Cover and cook for approximately five minutes until tender.

5. Remove cover so steam can escape. When most of the liquid has evaporated, add lemon juice and season with pepper. Crumble feta over spinach. Transfer to plates and garnish with radishes and toasted sesame seeds.

This dish can be served with potatoes.

(Recipes compiled by Cordelia Madden)

This week at your local laiki

THE ORIGIN of purslane (Portulaca olearacea, glystrida in Greek) is uncertain, but it is found growing in the wild/cultivation throughout much of the world. It was known to the ancient Greeks - there are more than a dozen references to it in the works of Dioscorides, Galen and Pliny. Pliny mentions it as a "charm against all evil". Agapios Monachos the Cretan (15th century AD) wrote: "It is cold and astringent. The cultivated purslane is better than the wild; it stops stomach burning and soothes the intestines..." Purlsane was also known in the New World before the arrival of Columbus.

Apparently one of the richest sources of the all-important omega 3 essential fatty acids, purslane makes a pleasant alternative to cod liver oil, traditionally the source of a concentrated dose of omega 3s. High in vitamin E, a modest portion of purslane provides six times the amount found in the equivalent portion of spinach. It also provides you with decent doses of A and C as well as linoleic acid, a cardiotonic.

Purslane leaves don't go limp like July lettuces and offer a mild lemony tang and crunch to a mixed salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, rocket and onions. Myrsini Lambraki, in Herbs, Greens and Fruit, says purslane cannot be digested easily when consumed with foods of high acidity, and combines particularly well with basil, garlic, cress and piquant greens. Used fresh, it also goes well with lightly steamed beans or carrots. Cooked purslane is a little mucilaginous, however, as it approaches flowering stage, the stems become very like okra and these go well with lentil/lamb soup. Or try stir-frying with other vegetables and chicken.

Bestcellars
Wines of the week

STEPHANOS Georgas, manager of Cellier wine shops, selects wines to please more demanding oenophiles. "In this category belong some of the choicest Greek wines," he says. "We have chosen to present the following five, keeping in mind their excellent relationship between quality and price.

Chardonnay Antonopoulou (Chardonnay), Antonopoulos

Alpha Estate white (Sauvignon Blanc), Alpha Estate

Katsaros Estate red (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot), Katsaros Estate

Cava Mercouri Estate (Refosco, Mavrodaphne), Mercouri Estate

Metohi (Cabernet Sauvignon, Limnio), Evangelos Tsantalis