Growing up, one of my favourite meals was Mum’s ‘mince in pastry’. Hands down. Basically, Mum would make her bolognese mince and instead of serving it with the usual suspect – spaghetti, (which she used to add some chopped parsley and a dash of cream to) she would wrap it in puff pastry instead. Served always with mashed potato, mashed pumpkin and peas, a more comforting and satisfying meal could not be found.
So I guess these spinach and cheese triangles were partly inspired by Mum’s mince in pastry (she always made them in to triangle shapes too) and also due to the large bag of baby spinach in my fridge that was very quickly reaching it’s used by date. I’ve always loved spinach and cheese pastries, the ones made with filo pastry bought from the party shop; and although I do like filo – my real love is puff. It is SO easy to use, always handy to have in the freezer and tastes delicious.
The filling here is really yummy. I love the combination of feta and ricotta and the touch of lemon juice, cayenne pepper and nutmeg is just perfect. You can make these triangles as large ones (which are quicker to make) and serve them with a fresh green salad for a beautiful meat free meal or you can make them smaller and serve them at parties. Delish.
This is simple home cooking at it’s best. Give them a go.
spinach + cheese triangles (makes 10 large triangles or approx 20 smaller ones)
250 grams of ricotta cheese
180 grams of feta cheese, crumbled
280 grams of baby spinach leaves
1 x brown onion, finely chopped
1 x garlic clove, crushed
Juice of 1/4 of a lemon
Ground nutmeg, light sprinkling
Cayenne pepper, light sprinkling
Dried parsley flakes, light sprinkling
2 x eggs
5 x sheets of frozen puff pastry
Salt and pepper
Dash of olive oil, to fry the onions
- Preheat the oven to 220℃ and line 2 trays with baking paper. Take the puff pastry out of the freezer to start defrosting.
- In a large fry pan, heat a dash of olive oil and saute the onion and garlic until soft.
- Add the spinach and a dash of water to help it along. Stir with a wooden spoon until the spinach has wilted. This will only take a couple of minutes.
- Season well with salt and pepper.
- Add a light sprinkling of cayenne pepper, nutmeg and dried parsley.
- Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
- Stir through 1 x egg, the ricotta and crumbled feta and mix with a wooden spoon (letting the mixture cool slightly before adding it to the pastry).
- In a seperate bowl, crack the other egg in to it and whisk using a fork. (This will be used to wash over the pastry).
- Now, follow the photo tutorial below to show you how to assemble the triangles. Simply cut a puff pastry sheet in half on the diagonal. Place a good spoonful of the mixture in the centre of each triangle and fold to form a triangle shape. Using a fork, press the sides down to hold together. Prick holes in the pastry also with the fork (to allow some of the heat to escape when cooking).
- Using a pastry brush, spread the beaten egg over the pastries (which will make the pastry go lovely and shiny once cooked).
- Pop the triangles on the baking trays and place in the hot oven for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, back the heat off to 180℃ and cook for another 10 or so minutes or until the pastries are cooked nicely and have become golden.
Lo’s Tips
- If you don’t happen to have baking paper handy, you can grease the baking trays with butter or canola oil spray instead.
- You can also substitute the fresh baby spinach with spinach or frozen spinach.
- To make the pastries smaller, simply cut one sheet of puff pastry in to 4 triangles instead of 2.
If you make these spinach and cheese triangles please leave your comments below. xx
lo's kitchen 
Definitely a must on any day 😊
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Made this today absolutely yummy
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Yum! The kids and I had this for lunch. They were so good! Although I was halfway through the recipe when I realised I didn’t have any feta 😢 so I used a bit of Parmesan instead. They still tasted yummy but I can’t wait to make them again with the right ingredients! Thanks Lo 😘
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Good improvisation!
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